Starfox: Leader
by Jbv
Summary: The Star Fox Legacy going from the end of Adventures to post Command, Fixing beginning chapters now. Fox and Krystal fanfic with slight language. Nothing too harsh
1. Prologue and Chapter One

_**Disclaimer: The author of this story does not own the Star Fox franchise, or Nintendo, in any way, shape or form. Star Fox, and all related characters, are copyright of Nintendo.**_

***Note to ALL Readers: Before you start into this Fanfic please let me tell you that if you're afraid of so many chapters, don't worry.. Each chapter is short and I refer to them as pages or some people would call them passages. I'm not one for writing long chapters because eventually I burn out, my mind goes blank and I end up with something I'm not satisfied with. Next thing I'd like to point out is that yes this begins with alot of spelling errors and run on sentences etc..I apologize for that but this was my first time writing in any way and it has been an extreme learning experience along the way..I've cleaned up this chapter but I mainly am focusing on finishing this story before making sure everything's perfect.. If you have any suggestions message me or write a review and if you'd like to learn more about me read my bio on my profile page. Thanks everyone for reading this and I hope you enjoy it.***

**Star Fox : Leader**

Prologue: A Tale of the Past

"If i go down I'm taking you with me!" a voice all too common to Fox growled. Everything turned white and he just knew he was dead. Everything stayed white for a few moments until he could hear the person he had wanted to talk to the most in his life. The voice just said "Follow me, Fox." Then he could see that he wasn't dead,_Yet, _he never looked back. Everything was exploding and catching fire behind him. He could see the glow on the window inside the cockpit of his Arwing but he kept pushing to follow his father through the chaos.

Fox followed the figure he saw taking every turn he did, almost the same exact way going as fast as possible. He wanted to ask so many questions but he knew now was not the time. Finally he saw a light at the end of the tunnel and flew towards it trying to get out of the hell-hole he was in. As soon as he got to the exit it combusted in fire and he woke up with a loud yell, sweating and confused wanting to ask questions about why he kept reliving this moment.

He didn't notice that his new guest was worried about him, Krystal, the girl he just rescued a short 5 hours before he had passed out. He had hardly slept during the whole adventure when he was trying to rescue her on Sauria and whenever he did he either had this dream or was awakened by a hungry, and annoying, Tricky. Somehow seeing her face made it worth it to him.

She was drop-dead gorgeous to him. Blue fur, beautiful green eyes and the face not even an angel could beat. He was shy towards her and hardly said anything to her. Fox didn't even know much about her though he liked her in some way and it was more than her looks.

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**I. New Allies?**

"Are you alright?" The vixen asked him as he was still trying to catch his breath and he just replied "Y-y-yeah i just had a bad dream is all."

"Is there anything I can get you, or do you want to talk about it?" She asked quickly feeling somewhat in his debt for all he went through to save her.

"It's not a big deal" He smiled "You probably wouldn't understand really anyways" Deep inside questions were just burning inside him so many questions he had unanswered he let out a sigh. Looking out the window out at the stars wondering if his Father was really dead or not.

"Well can we talk about it I'd like to help you in any way I could since you did so much to help me"

He let out a slight laugh and then winced when Krystal tried to touch his arm he was sore, _everywhere._ This whole adventure he had worked so long and hard with more physical challenges than he had ever had in his life. Once more a look into her eyes made him feel it was all worth it.

Fox started his story. "Well I lost my parents when i was young and.." He was interrupted before he could continue. Krystal told him that her parents were dead as well so she understood his pain there. She hugged him which made Fox wince again. "Sorry." She giggled slightly trying to lighten the mood. She felt sorry for him and wished that she could help him in any way possible.

"You remember that guy on the Krazoa statue?" He continued with a deep breath. She nodded and told him that he was the one who put her in that crystal prison she was held in. Fox continued on to tell her how he had killed his father and he didn't remember his mother at all. He didn't even know how he could let her know he thought his father _might _be alive without her thinking he was crazy.

Atleast at that time, he didn't know she was a telepath. She could read his mind the whole time and was using it for some information. Little did he know she was 'watching' his dream before he woke up.

"Did your dad wear sunglasses?" She asked. The fox jumped at the question due to he had never mentioned his father to her before this and never said anything about his appearance. "Yeah" He coughed quietly almost as if he were choking "But how did you know?"

She quickly responded answering "I saw a picture in the hallway of someone like you, except older, with sunglasses so i just figured."

He looked at her suspiciously but didn't really care about it. He was just intrigued that she had paid so much attention. Krystal let out a tear and cried "My mother died when my home planet was destroyed and my father died shortly before that" she said trying to hold back as many tears as possible. Fox just gently patted her back afraid to do anything more, but wanting to.

He listened to her story of why she was at Sauria she didn't mention the distress call or her telepathy. She just covered it up with telling him she was looking for the reason for her father's death. Fox was amazed to hear she practically raised herself most of her life, alone. He felt sorry for her and wanted to do more and more for her but he was too shy around her to do anything at that moment.

Things got quiet for a moment, Krystal eventually left Fox's room with a hug and a "Good Night" They both went back to sleep happy.

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_-Authors note: thanks for reading so far this is my first piece of work on a fanfic and my only writing besides the type school forced me to please review and enjoy reading my fanfic-_

_-Update: August 22 – Revamped this whole chapter..Will be working up to around Chapter thirty to fix all my errors..I know I didn't catch them all but I'm trying..Next chapter is soon to be corrected as well!-_


	2. II A Farewell too Soon?

**II. A Farewell too Soon?**

Fox woke up the next morning dazed and confused. Stuck in thought and not moving at all he looked at the clock and was amazed that it read 5:33 P.M. . That didn't inspire him to get up at all he was thinking while he laid down, something he had not been able to do in forever. He was thinking about his father, Krystal and what the future held with them.

Just barely less than a half an hour later Fox finally got up and walked into the main room where he stood in front of Falco Slippy and Peppy. Fox didn't notice that he looked like a mess, It was obvious he had slept in and wasn't busy.

"Nice 'do' McCloud" Falco laughed, Slippy let out a short laugh with him. Slippy went back to modifying his blueprints of a new design for the hardly-used Landmaster tank. Falco went back to unpacking his stuff from just rejoining the team and Fox just wanted to know one thing. "Wheres Krystal?" Fox asked ignoring their joke. Peppy looked at Fox and sighed saying "Krystal left a note for you."

Fox quickly grabbed the note, a quick expression of sadness appeared on his face

_Hey Fox,_

_I still needed to check on something on the planet.. You took forever waking up and i thought you wouldn't like to come with me anyways. If you need me I'll be on Sauria but if you don't well... I guess this is goodbye and thanks again for saving me. I'll always be in your debt._

_-Krystal_

Fox was confused, what would she need to do. He didn't bother thinking it through because he needed to find her before she thought he didn't care. There was a problem though he didn't know _where _exactly to look! Fox groaned before he packed up his backpack and headed down the hallway to the docking bay.

On his way to the hangar Fox stopped in curiosity looking at the walls in the hallway. He noticed that there were no pictures. He shrugged to himself but kept thinking in his mind if Krystal had perhaps known his father or seen him, he needed to find out.

-On Sauria-

Krystal sighed looking at the sky from Thorntail Hollow where she had expected Fox would come to see her. If he was coming. It was getting late so she decided she'd go do what she came to Sauria to see, an old Friend.

-Orbit around Sauria, Fox's Arwing 5 Minutes later-

Fox was feeling weird about this whole thing. He was excited to see Krystal again, but dreaded this search he had to do. Also he felt that he had either made the wrong impression on Krystal or she just didn't like him. He sighed, desperately looking at the ground below. His eyes would sometimes float away to the picture he had taped onto the dashboard of his Arwing. The picture of his father and his mother.

Fox's flight was an easy one compared to the other ones ever since the planet had been reformed. The meteors and enemies weren't out there so he just flew straight in landing in the same spot as always, in Thorntail Hollow right near the cave entering into Lightfoot Village.

As soon as Fox landed the ship he was met by a few Dinosaurs. Ones who had been thankful for Fox's deeds on the planet just yesterday. "I don't have much time to talk right now you guys.." He panted. "but have you happened to see a blue fox anywhere around here?" He hoped for an answer. "I saw one earlier she stood here for hours then finally just left towards Cape Claw! She had your staf-" "Thanks" Fox said quickly cutting off what the dinosaur was telling him.

Fox ran as fast as he could towards Cape Claw, stopping in Lightfoot Village just to make sure but he realized then that only the honorary tribe members could get in, unless they were captured. He doubted she had been captured so he started to Cape Claw.

The scene looked different to Fox as got out of the caves, it was already night time and he knew time wasn't on his side. He looked everywhere but couldn't find Krystal anywhere he looked. He even checked the Ocean Forcepoint Temple (As far as he could without a Spellstone or a key from a gatekeeper to get in) He cursed in defeat. Looking around pointlessly and just staring out in the ocean hoping an idea would pop into his head.

Just then he noticed something out in the ocean something that had not been there before but something he had seen before. It was Cloudrunner Fortress! He thought that maybe just maybe he could have _some _luck today.

Fox had to run back to his Arwing and relocate into the Fortress. He didn't know any entrance and didn't want to take the chance of swimming. The long swim would be deadly from his soreness. When he got into the fortress he noticed he was running low on fuel and had not been paying attention to get more fuel cells at the Hollow.

When Fox landed he noticed one Sharpclaw prisoner ship (which happened to be what Krystal flew onto the Great Fox the day before). Fox couldn't help but smile seeing that he had lucked up. While getting out he heard a sound that made his heart flip and his smile revert to a frown.. It was Krystal but it wasn't a good sound it was a scream followed by "Somebody please help me!"


	3. III An Old Enemy

**III. An Old Enemy**

Fox quickly responded jumping out of his Arwing as fast as he could. He pulled out his blaster not knowing of what was happening but thinking of the worst..

Fox had to run to the other side of the what seemed to be deserted fortress to see what was happening. When he saw what was happening he froze in place.

Scales was standing right in front of him at the edge of the dock (which earlier was surrounded by air not water). Holding Krystal by the neck. She was struggling to breathe, Fox couldn't breathe either at the site but luckily he had not been noticed.

Krystal passed out, her body going limp and helpless to her attacker. Scales growled in victory "I told you this wasn't over insect!" before tossing her out in the deep waters.

Fox unable to even think up a plan shot at scales hitting him in the arm. Scales turned around quickly and gave a confused yet angry look at the vulpine. The dino quickly charged at Fox knocking the blaster into the water. Fox was caught dumbfounded at the move. His mind was elsewhere though. He just kept thinking about Krystal he had known time wasn't on his side, _It never was._

Scales quickly stabbed Fox in his chest which was returned with a head-butt on the general. Scales had thick scaly skin so it was a bad move on Fox's behalf. Fox tried to stay awake everything started to blur. He remained there still as the general held him up laughing and yelling "You might have saved the planet this time but i will make sure you won't be here to save it the next time" Fox let out a growl hearing this letting out all of his energy into one move. It was a quick second and then it was over Fox had quickly grabbed the reserve knife he had latched into the side of his boot and stabbed the general through the heart. The general roared in pain falling to the ground and so did the crippled vulpine.

Barely able to move he remembered Krystal was still drowning. He didn't know how long it had been the fight didn't last long but it seemed to last an eternity. He slowly crawled over to the edge looking down in the water and letting out a groan. "Just one more push." He growled to himself before he lunged into the water going down as far as he could.

Barely keeping his eyes open Fox used all the strength he had just to endure this ten or twenty seconds. He felt Krystal's arm and slowly pulled her up to him. He could barely see where he was swimming although there was only one direction he needed to go.

Finally he made his way up to the surface using whatever strength he had left to throw Krystal on land. He barely got himself up with a groan bleeding all over his vest. "Please..Please..Please." Fox prayed as he pushed on the Vixen's chest. She coughed up water and started breathing again Fox let out a sigh of relief and looked into her eyes as they opened. He let out a loud groan of victory and fell to the ground beside her passed out.

Krystal saw Fox fall and was trying to figure out what was happening. She turned to look at Fox nudging him a little bit but he didn't respond. She got up and looked at him gasping at first site of the wound he had. All the blood coming out showed her it was serious. She quickly took his bandanna and put it on his wound. Holding her hand on it putting pressure down, trying to stop the bleeding. putting her other hand on his she sighed wanting to know what happened..

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Sorry for this one being a short chapter wanted to put the rest in the next chapter, hope anyone who's reading this enjoys it, its my first so my writing style might not be perfect and is probably far from it, Thanks for the views!


	4. IV You're A What?

**IV. You're a what?**

Krystal sighed trying to find out what had happened to Fox. Why was Scales still alive? She tried to use her telepathy to find out only to be interrupted by 2 Cloudrunners as they walked by.

"What th-" one tried to say before the other one blurted out "What in the name of the Queen happened here?"

Krystal looked up at the Cloudrunners noticing one at first glance. He was the one she had come to Sauria to see in the first place. The Cloudrunner that had helped her get onto Scales' Galleon in the first place.

"I need help fast do you have anything to help? Any doctors or bandages?" Krystal asked the Cloudrunners who only looked confused and startled by the situation. "I'm sorry Krystal we don't know how to treat anything other than our own." Krystal frowned at their response. Her stomach flipped the main thought she was having was: '_He saved me twice and i cant even save him once...'._

Krystal took Fox to the front of the Fortress. She was barely able to pick him up! To her relief she saw that Fox had flown there in his Arwing. She remembered that when she was imprisoned she would use her telepathy to watch Fox on the adventure and had seen which controls worked the Arwing.

Krystal quickly put Fox in the cockpit and got in beside him. "There isn't much room but it has to work." She thought aloud before she pressed the buttons on the control panel in order. She remembered from how many times Fox flew this thing what to do. She started slowly lifting the lever to accelerate the Arwing, she did it slower than Fox usually did still not expecting how it would react speed wise. She just didn't want to crash it and ruin their only hope. She slowly navigated her way up into orbit.

Looking on the radar she couldn't seem to find the Great Fox anywhere. She was too scared to make it go any faster so she slowly made her way around the planet. Finally she saw a ping on the radar and flew directly towards it.

As Krystal was slowly making her way towards the ship the engine shut off. "What? Out of fuel cells?" She blurted out loudly. Fox let out a loud groan and moved a little before waking up. "Where the he-, Krystal? What are you Doing?" He yelled seeing the vixen piloting _his _Arwing

Krystal looked over with a nervous smile at the vulpine "I was trying to save you and you didn't have enough fuel in your ship.." She giggled nervously and Fox looked at her confused and angrily. Fox rested his head back, groaning loudly at the pain in his chest that started kicking in. "_This would be kind of nice to be here with Krystal if i weren't dying" _He thought to himself, Krystal let out a giggle and smiled.

Fox pushed the communication link button and linked it up to the Great Fox. He wondered how he was going to explain this to everyone. Being hurt and out of fuel so close to the Great Fox was one thing but being in the same cockpit with Krystal was another.

The Communicator finally established a signal and to Fox's relief it had been peppy who picked it up and Fox explained his situation and about 2 minutes later Peppy flew out on his older Arwing to come and pick them up.

"Whats going on?" Falco blurted out seeing Fox running to the medical sector of the ship holding his chest with blood dripping to the floor. "What happened to Fox?" Slippy asked shortly after none of them even Acknowledging Krystal being back.

"Maybe he was looking up Krystal's- Oh hi there Krystal!" Falco said happily. The avian trying to make a joke before noticing the vixens presence. She didn't acknowledge anything in return just gave an angered look towards him. She expected him to atleast be serious with Fox's injury being so bad.

Krystal stood in the main room until the other members of the team decided to go check out Fox's condition. She would've gone sooner if she had known where to go and was hoping noone would know about how they got back.

In the medical sector R.O.B. was patching up Fox's wound by the time the others showed up the robot had finished his job. Without saying anything the robot went back to guide the ship away from any asteroids or anything of that matter.

"Another battle-wound eh Foxie?", Falco joked in his normal sarcastic tone, "I gain kills you gain wounds" He went on to bluff which was quickly followed by fake laughter from Slippy. Peppy gave Falco the usual angry look he almost always was giving him. Slippy was just happy as long as they weren't directed towards him.

Fox looked over at Krystal, that was his only concern. He was practically staring at her the whole time it was like her eyes trapped him. He couldn't keep a smile from coming to his face as he looked at her.

"Well I'll leave you guys alone" The avian stated with a smirk, walking off. Slippy smiled "Get better soon Fox" and walked off, Peppy just smirked and walked away from the 2 foxes leaving them time to talk. Alone.

Fox looked at Krystal more after saying his goodbyes to the three. He finally asked her "Why did you go back to Sauria?" She looked down at him surprised that was his first question from this whole ordeal. "Uh, I had to go see an old friend and make sure he was okay..You took forever getting up.." Krystal muttered Fox smiled for some reason at that, _it was hard not to smile around her_. He thought dreamily only to hear the end of what Krystal was saying next. Fox looked at her a little shocked and asked "What was that i zoned out..It must be the painkillers kicking in...".

"Oh, I asked why Scales was still alive I thought you killed him" Krystal asked the wounded vulpine. He had asked himself about that but he didn't really have anytime to think it through. After thinking about it for a second he then realized he never killed Scales. He only got the final spirit from him. "I never killed Scales..Crap I'm so stupid." he muttered in disgrace "I thought I did but I only got the spirit from him apparently... I'm sorry"

"Don't be, it's not your fault at all" She said in a calming tone which only made him happier. Hearing that voice was so calming for him, he had never felt anything like that since someone he hardly remembered.. Krystal could tell how it affected Fox without telepathy and was relieved that she could actually help him in some ways.

"Krystal... I have another question, how did you fly my Arwing out of there? It's controls are different from any other ship. Especially that Sharpclaw ship you flew down there." He smiled weakly at her knowing that she would be a good pilot for the team.

"First off i didn't fly the Sharpclaw's ship into the Fortress. I left it in a safe spot i found just above Thorntail Hollow" She stated "And second off, well I don't know how to tell you this without freaking you out or making you think I was weird.." Her voice turned to a whisper. Hesitating as she spoke like she had regret saying what she already had.

"You wont make me think you're weird Krystal, I l- Like you.." Fox said blushing as soon as he said it. He almost accidentally let it out that he felt like he loved her already. Krystal tried to hide her smile at him after she heard that and then answered. "Okay, well I'm uh..." she trailed off blushing. Hardly able to let it out. She breathed a deep breath and said "I have a special gift Fox...I'm a telepath.."

Fox let out a short chuckle and then looked into Krystal's eyes. She was actually being serious.

Things got silent for a moment as he thought about _everything _he had thought about her for the past 2 days. She may have known what he was thinking not only that but what all could she use against him if she wanted to.

Fox broke the silence after a few seconds of thinking and he asked "So you can read minds?" Krystal looked at him kind of disappointed like she was guilty and whispered "Yeah i can, its how i really knew what your father looked like and how to fly an Arwing..I'm sorry that I've invaded your privacy to this degree but I can't help it..Usually"

He looked at her his mouth gaping open as he learned that the vixen knew _everything _he had thought of. He wished that she hadn't and was extremely embarrassed. Turned bright red before Krystal put her hand on his and said "It's okay, I don't mind anything you've thought about me...But I think it's time you learned more about me." She said with a smile.

The two talked for hours the vixen even slept in the bed across the room from Fox but she hardly could get to sleep. She spent some time trying to channel Fox a dream of them both on Sauria. At the beach in Cape Claw, the best dream the vulpine had in months.

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_-Author's notes: A longer chapter seems to ramble though i had to change alot after my computer crashed halfway through my other one ill add more action as time goes on, thanks for reading also i noticed alot of spelling errors throughout this whole book ill proofread it ASAP, sorry. hope you're enjoying this as much as i am-_

_-Aug 22 Corrected up to this chapter again..Fixing things slowly-_


	5. V A New Teammate

**V. A New Teammate**

The next few days Krystal hardly left Fox's side talking with him as they each learned of one another's past. How they lived and any goals they had. Krystal didn't have any goals except to discover the reason her planet was destroyed and why her parents had died. Once she started thinking about it she didn't really have a plan for life.

Fox looked into the vixen's eyes, she looked really depressed saying this. He had an idea, one he had been thinking of and waiting for the time to come.

"Krystal, since you're a telepath maybe you could join us here at Star Fox. I could teach you how to fly an Arwing if you'd like or maybe you could just stay aboard the Great Fox and help us out. What do you say?" Fox asked without hesitating.

"I'd love to join you all. I'd rather like having you teach me how to fly, I think it'd be fun" Krystal smiled. She blushed a little thinking of the two spending the time together and learning how to fly from one of the best pilots Lylat had known. As soon as she had said that Fox had a smile so big it couldn't be hidden.

"I should be able to get back into an Arwing in a couple of days." Fox sighed. "until then I could go down with you and watch you do simulators if you'd like."

"Sounds like a plan" Krystal said with a wide smile before helping Fox up. hHelping him down into the lower levels of the ship. The Simulation Training Room of the ship hadn't seen any action since before the first mission the Starfox team had under Fox's command. Fox was a little angered to see how old the system was compared to the new ones he had tried in Corneria weeks before he went to Sauria.

Fox started the simulator it jolted a few times like the old rusty machine it was. Krystal jumped with it. She then got used to the controls, learning how to shoot do barrel rolls flips and all the necessary acrobats. Fox was pleasantly surprised to see that the vixen had skill for a beginner and even beat Slippy's old scores.

Fox was slightly emberassed to see the scores again remembering the time Falco had challenged him and Fox lost barely by a few points. He tried to push himself too hard and do too many moves before hitting a tree. If he hadn't crashed he would've won.

Peppy walked down to the simulation room hearing noise and laughter only to see that Krystal had not only cleared his own scores but had beaten some of Fox's lower ones. Fox was sitting there his mouth wide open at the board unable to believe it.

Fox noticed Peppy's entrance and turned to the hare saying "Sh-Sh-She's actually _good"_

"I knew she would be" Peppy said in response "I know a good pilot when I see one and she seems to be the type.." The hare looked in amusement "I guess this means i can retire from flying, if she joins that is.."

"She's already agreed to join, I'm going to be teaching her to fly...Well she might not need it but I still will." Fox blushed with a nervous chuckle. The door opened and Krystal walked over to the two talking "I think I'm done for now, that gets tiring after a little bit." She yawned, sweat beading on her forehead.

Peppy saw that Fox had blushed and smiled with just one thought on his mind; _Fox has found his Vixy._

As Fox, Krystal and Peppy walked back up to the main floors of the giant spacecraft they were brought to a halt outside the door of the Game Room. The same 2 voices that always were yelling at each other were at it again. Slippy and Falco had gotten into yet another fight.

"You cheated we agreed on the normal eight ball rules!" Slippy yelled at the bird who just responded by "Who cares about calling the pocket that much, sheesh I let you by with a scratch for the love of-" "Falco calm down its been 2 days and you and Slip are already fighting." Fox interrupted. The two sighed angrily watching Fox leave the room. As soon as the door shut they started back arguing. This time Fox just ignored it.

About two hours later Fox was heading back to the medical sector to get more painkillers only to have Krystal stop him on the way. "I'll help you." She offered with a smile seeing the vulpine barely able to walk. She'd offer to get them herself if she knew what to get. On the way back to Fox's room she had stopped kind of stuttering her speech trying to word what she wanted to say.

"F-Fox I-I just.." She sighed unable to say much. "Yes Krystal?" He was actually worried for her. "I want to thank you again for helping me. You've done so much for me and you've saved my life 2 times now.." Fox grinned saying "You don't need to thank me anymore You've helped me alot and I'm glad you're here."

The two smiled at each other both blushing as they stared into each others eyes. Something was drawing them closer and closer. Their lips were about to touch when they heard a loud *_Crack*_ Slippy ran into the room screaming being chased after by an angry Falco. He had just busted a pool cue on Slippy's head leaving a red mark. Fox sighed before just saying "I'm glad I asked you to join before all this happened." He kind of chuckled at his own joke getting a giggle in return.

"I'd still stay, if you're the leader it can't be _that _bad." She smiled at him. Fox was once again staring into her eyes the same way before noticing it was silent for a second. He looked in front of him and saw Falco and Slippy had stopped fighting and were instead staring at them.

Fox blushed, he just wanted to crawl into a corner knowing what he'd hear from this. Krystal decided to end his situation and asked him about getting her officially in the team. Fox still blushing nodded before he went into his room with Krystal. He turned on the communicator and called General Pepper to get Krystal added into the team.

Falco and Slippy were both listening at the door hearing every word as Fox went on with the call. "She's a good pilot already and she has telepathy which would be extremely helpful." He went on explaining to the General before he finally said "Fox, you're the leader of the team you don't need to tell me her skills just tell me her last name so I can put it down." Fox gulped. He noticed he hadn't asked for her last name. Krystal answered for him "I have no last name General...". The hound dog seemed very intrigued by this. "Well I'm very busy right now so I'll just mark her down as Krystal for now, Pepper out." He concluded as the screen turned black.

"So uhm, now that that's done. What do you want to do now?" Fox asked nervously before Krystal answered "Well, I've kind of got a question for you.." She was blushing visibly under her blue fur as she went on. "In all the stories I've heard, when a hero saves a girl...They share a kiss.." She ended and even blushed harder. Fox just chuckled before moving closer to her and kissing her, the kiss had to last more than twenty seconds. The two looked in each others eyes satisfied after it had ended.

When Fox pulled back from her they were both laying down, she was in his arms almost wishing she never had to move. Fox's dreams had come true in the blink of an eye. He looked at her slowly moving closer again and saying "Well I saved you two times so maybe i can kiss you twice.." he said before kissing her again the same way for even longer.

Slippy and Falco were bursting from laughter at the other side of the door before deciding they should leave the two alone.

A few minutes later Fox still had Krystal in his arms. He was smiling, nothing could ruin this moment for him. Krystal felt the same way , they were motionless until she almost fell asleep then Fox moved his hand to brush hair off of her face and he smiled before almost drifting off to sleep as well. "I'm going to go to bed Fox. Thanks for everything." She smiled and kissed his cheek before leaving the room.

Fox looked up at the ceiling and knew what was happening. He was definitely in love.

_-Author's Note: Hey guys thanks for reading this story I've had alot of fun writing these and hopefully they're fun for you to read, thanks for the reviews they have helped me to find some of my errors and have helped my confidence too, heh, anyways thanks for reading ill continue to update ASAP, Thank you all so much-_


	6. VI First Day on Duty

VI First Day on Duty

Fox woke up the following morning to see the vixen still in his thoughts. "Morning Fox." Krystal smiled from the doorway. She had been watching him sleep peacefully for the past few minutes. "I thought we could get some time in the simulators today." She gave a smile that made him say yes. "How's your wound?" She asked before looking down at the bandage. "Good. Good." He smiled back to her. She put her hand on it to prove it didn't hurt him but was interrupted.

"Fox there's a couple of- Um..Am i interrupting something?" Fox looked at the screen blushing trying to explain what had happened. He just gave up on an explanation. "What is it Peppy?" Krystal got up to ask "There's a couple of ships outside I wanted Fox to check if anythings up with them. They've been on radar for 20 minutes now."

The vulpine groaned jumping out of the bed and quickly racing into the bathroom with another set of clothes. Quickly changed and headed back out the door. On his way out he was stopped by Krystal who seemed like Tricky for a moment with the question that normally annoyed him more than anything. "Can I come too?" Fox looked dumbfounded at the question he had never expected this "Umm..Sure I guess you can but it will be boring. Nothing will happen probably so I guess you could come.."

Krystal smiled at him excitedly and followed him into the docking bay. Fox let out a nervous laugh as Krystal got into one of the spare Arwing's, Krystal felt his uneasy feelings over this and asked "Why are you so worried? I thought nothing would happen" He smiled at her and said "Well I hope nothing happens...I just don't want you to get hurt.."

The vixen smiled at him "I'll be fine I've got the best with me" Fox chuckled nervously before telling Peppy to launch the ships. "You sure you're ready to fly one of these Krystal?" He asked her, she felt something in him she had never felt before, fear. "I'll be fine" She assured him before the ships took off, she was left with an uneasy feeling after launch. She had not expected the spinning but she still followed Fox close towards the target on the radar.

When they reached the targets Fox opened communications with one of the pilots. "What are you guys doing here, do you need any help or anything" Krystal used her telepathy to talk to Fox._"There's more than 2 people here I'm sensing multiple brainwaves" _Fox was suspicious about her sixth sense this time but stuck with it. The person on the other line was just breathing heavily. All of a sudden he yelled out "Attack". Six more stealthed ships assaulted the two Arwings.

Fox sped into the battle taking down two ships quickly. Two more came out of stealth behind him. The vulpine was trying to avoid the fire giving them the chance to get behind him. Fox then looked down and saw that Krystal's shield was down to 54% "Help me Fox I can't get him off!" She cried out. Fox sped up not even trying to avoid the fire from the five ships behind him. He just focused on catching up to the vixen in distress once more.

He caught up to Krystal and shot down the ship on her tail before losing his right wing from the enemy ships.

Krystal hesitated trying to help the vulpine and shot a bomb at the 5 ships taking them all down in an explosion. The only bad thing was she almost took out Fox too, "Sorry, wrong button!". The vulpine sighed looking at the damage she had done to the side and rear of his ship. He couldn't help but laugh at the chances and that she had destroyed 5 ships accidentally. "C'mon let's just get back" He chuckled. The two flew side by side back to the Great Fox smiling at each other and talking about the previous night on the way.

Fox was in a pretty good mood considering what had just happened. That is until he got out and saw the damage to his Arwing. "Slippy's gonna love this.." Fox sighed as he looked at the side of the half destroyed craft reading _McCloud _on the side barely visible. He stared at the ship remembering memories of his past before Krystal put her hand on his shoulder. "Is everything okay?" He jumped at her touch, his heart almost skipped a beat. "Yeah, I'm fine this ships just been through alot with me, I hope Slippy can repair it this time" She smiled at him before they both walked back into the bridge greeted by Peppy, Slippy and Falco. They were in the game room as always and had not even noticed the events outside the window.

Fox and Krystal sat in the bridge. He was amused at the vixens amazement about television, she had never watched one in her life. "How does this even work..It all makes no sense." She thought out loud after Fox had told her for the third time.

She was flipping around channels and found a documentary on the history of the Starfox team. Fox slightly blushed at the timing. She asked questions about almost everything almost like Tricky would. From what Andross did to why the team split up afterwards.

The two talked for an extra hour after it had gone off. Fox had an idea on what to do next..

"Krystal, in a couple days were going to have to leave orbit around Sauria and go to Corneria to renovate the ship. I was thinking we could go spend a week or two on Sauria while they're doing that. It'd be a fun place to go. I could also help you learn more about flying" He said smiling nervously and blushing at the fact that he had invited them to go be somewhere alone. For a couple of weeks at that.

"I'd love to, but you need to have your ship repaired." She alerted him. Fox just remembered he had to get Slippy to repair his ship. "I'll be right back.." He smiled before getting up and running down the hall.

Krystal flipped around channels on the TV while Fox was busy. Fox had unluckily walked into the game room to find Slippy and Falco arguing, yet again, over a video game. Fox knew Falco loved picking arguements with Slippy due to it annoyed most everyone nearby and was amusing for him.

Fox didn't even bother breaking it up he just pushed Slippy out of the room, out-powering him. After they had left the room Falco fell on the floor laughing the hardest he had in a while.

"Slippy I need a favor from you quickly. Can you repair my Arwing again?" He asked him chuckling nervously, Slippy looked confused at the vulpine. "I just fixed it like three days ago Fox what did you do this time?" Fox kept chuckling nervously before trying to explain but he just decided to show him the mess.

Krystal smiled at the two walking out into the docking bay. She waved at them expecting to hear yelling as soon as the door shut behind them.

Slippy took a look at the Arwing, instantly he gasped at it, turned to Fox and said dreadfully "I don't think I can repair this one, just take mine or Falco's, were getting new ones in a couple days anyways, new-" "Yeah, yeah, I know but you know this Arwing is really special for me. So could you please just try to fix it" He interrupted the toad.

Slippy thought for a moment and then remembered why Fox had liked this Arwing so much. He couldn't help but nod and grab his toolbox out bringing one of the spare wings out of storage with him. "It beats arguing with Falco atleast." Slippy smiled at Fox and started to work on the broken ship. "Thanks Slip'" Fox smiled before heading back to be with Krystal.

He went back into the bridge and sat next to Krystal again. Smiling at her and asking "So how are-" He stopped and noticed she was asleep. He smiled looking at her thinking _She's so beautiful.._

He stared at her for a few moments before she opened her eyes. She looked at him yawning and noticed he was staring at her. She couldn't help but smile back, blushing noticeably under her blue fur. "Tired?" He asked her sweetly after a moment. "Yeah it's been a big day for me...kind of.." She replied sounding weak.

He looked at her thinking of what to say before blurting out what was on his mind. "Well you want to go into my room?" He wanted to hit himself after noticing what he had just said to her. He blushed turning a bright red and her laughing didnt help him either. Fox looked like a volcano about to erupt from the redness of his face. He was unlucky his fur didn't hide his as well though, she was blushing too.

"I don't know.." She pondered after she had stopped laughing at how red his face could turn. "Well I didn't mean to really say that so I'm sorry it just came out" He laughed nervously, which made her smile at him and she kissed him on the cheek making him turn red again. She giggled at him, he was easy to get.

"I think I'm fine out here for another night. I dont want Falco and Slippy getting suspicious of us... But hopefully tommorow we will head out to Sauria and we will be together for a week or two. I can't wait to start lessons with you." She smiled at him kissing him on the cheek again and hugging him then laying back down.

Fox never changed from bright red during the whole conversation. He walked back to his room grinning and looking forward to the next day.

_-Author's Note: First off I'd like to apologize for not updating for a couple days I spent time with my family so I had no time to write I had previously set up this chapter but I decided to trash it and came out with this one, I wanted to make this chapter longer but I've burnt out heh, Second off I'd like to thank you guys that are reading and reviewing it really makes me feel alot better for my poor writing, and finally I'd like to say im going to keep updating this, I'm NOT done, so if I don't post for a day or two, I've either hit a block or I'm busy, thank you all for reading this.-_


	7. VII Another Trip to Sauria

VII. Another Trip to Sauria

Krystal watched as Fox made his way into his room shutting the door behind him, she smiled before laying back and relaxing as she fell into a deep sleep. Fox on the other hand didn't get to bed so easily thinking about how he'd go about training Krystal he had never taught anyone to fly before, so he was nervous about making any mistakes. Fox's mind raced through more things until he finally fell asleep.

Krystal woke up in the middle of the night to grab a drink of water and noticed some of Fox's brainwaves, she tried to control her telepathy but she couldn't keep from seeing parts of the vulpine's dreams, she decided to figure out what it was, thinking that it had to be important for her to keep getting these images.

She saw an area she had never been to before, there were tall buildings everywhere streets and cars parked on the sides of the road and in driveways, it was dark out and she was confused on how this was important until she saw a familiar face, it was Peppy, although he looked alot younger, he was carrying something that she couldn't recognize even though it looked familiar. The hare walked up the steps to one of the smaller houses took a deep breath, he was nervous for some reason, a tear even formed as he knocked on the door, which was answered by 2 dogs, they were casually dressed and had brown fur, Peppy started talking but she couldn't hear a thing he said to them but she saw the two dogs start to tear up as well, she had no idea what was going on and why Fox would dream of this until she saw a younger version of Fox, alot younger, he had to be twelve years old or so, he was talking with another dog which was around the same age. Krystal lost focus for a second unable to keep herself from giggling at the look of the vulpine when he was younger but then focused in again.

She could hear Peppy's voice again, "_I'm going to need to take Fox back, I just don't know how to tell him this..He's already lost his mother and he's barely gotten past that"_She knew what was coming then as Peppy called the vulpine over Fox seemed excited to see Peppy and asked "Where's dad?" Peppy just looked at him trying not to cry and said "Fox, when we got to Venom, Pigma betrayed us and your father was captured by Andross" The vulpine already started tearing up hearing that much "Is he going to be okay?" he asked and when he did Peppy didn't know how to react to the question "I'm not sure but you're going to come live with me for a while and you might need to drop out of the academy" The last thing she could see was the vulpine crying knowing his father was gone forever and then she could feel confusion afterwards she knew he had woken up and decided to go talk with him.

Fox heard knocking at his door as he stumbled out of bed to open it, Krystal walked in hugged him and sat on his bed, "Do you want to talk?" Fox looked at her confused seeing that it was 5 A.M. "I know what you were dreaming, I couldn't help but see images of it and well curiosity got the best of me after that." The vulpine looked at her angered at first and shocked before sighing and sitting next to her.

"It was when i was younger, alot younger I was staying at a friends house while my dad went to end Andross's plans but the third member of the Starfox team Pigma betrayed him, all for money, It took a while for me to train but i finally got prepared to fight Andross with a new team the one that we still have today" She looked into his eyes at a loss for words, she knew how it felt, she then remembered her parents for the little part of her life she was with them and started crying. The vulpine hugged her and let her cry on his shoulder wanting to be there for her, Fox sat there for atleast an hour and the vixen fell asleep like that, he picked her up carefully trying not to wake her and carried her back over to the couch and then went back to bed, but he didn't get back to sleep, he laid there thinking about his father, how his life had gone, but he was somehow happy at this point. He laid there for hours before getting up and packing for the trip to Sauria.

Fox finally got done packing by the time Krystal woke up, She was already packed and knew that Fox was looking forward to this as much as she was. The two rushed to make sure everything was ready before saying their goodbye's and then heading off to the docking bay where Fox was relieved to see that Slippy had repaired his Arwing the best he could and the two launched and headed towards Sauria.

On the way Krystal was excited to show Fox of a place he had not been on the planet just above where the Queen Earthwalker had been held it was a waterfall that led into a lake and a large area of flat ground, a good area to be at, besides the scenery being nice.

Fox stared in amazement that he had been all over the planet and not noticed this but he was too caught up in his work to save the planet, and Krystal as soon as possible.

"Beautiful huh?" Krystal said proudly of the spot she found, Fox nodded looking in her eyes with a smile looking forward to the time with Krystal ahead even though he had never taught anyone how to fly an Arwing in combat he was still looking forward to spending time with his 'Student'.

Krystal led on to a place where they'd set up their camp and Fox just looked at Krystal looking at her and the waterfall in the background matched her beauty somehow and he had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach one he wouldn't trade for anything: "Im going to do _anything_to protect her" he thought to himself sighing afterwards thinking she was reading his thoughts but surprisingly she wasn't, atleast he didn't think so due to she normally would giggle hearing something like that.

Fox set up both of their camps and by the time he finished it was dusk already and Fox started making them some food he had brought from the ship he wasn't able to make anything special out of it though, where he seemed to be skilled at all things he lacked on cooking. The two sat and talked for hours smiling and laughing enjoying each others company.

On the Great Fox the crew had finally made it to Corneria using a warp to fly into the city, they brought many peoples attention as they all gasped at the older model craft finally land near the base there where they would have it fixed a crowd soon gathered outside the ship waiting to hopefully get an autograph from the famous Fox McCloud but they were all disappointed when they found out the leader was not with them. The crowd suddenly turned from screaming fans to interrogators asking why the leader was not with his team and how this made him look Slippy Falco and Peppy signed a few autographs for the fans and ignored all of the questions the angry mob had asked them.

Noone had known of Falco leaving the team or even what had happened on Sauria, the team still held their fame for ending The Lylat Wars and also saving a small base on Katina shortly after.

Back on Sauria it was already nighttime and the two were both sitting at a fire and laughing Fox was telling old stories of the Starfox team and Krystal told stories of what she had found in the other teammembers thoughts, which none of them surprised Fox at all. The nights events slowed down for the two as it led from conversations to a competition of who could do the best massage before the nights events came to an end Fox had gotten a call from Peppy and he answered going towards the back for some privacy, Krystal then heard him yell "What?!?! Are they insane?!??? 10 Million??" followed by the kicking of a tree, she used her telepathy to find out that it had taken the team all of the money from the Saurian adventure to afford repairs on the ship and Arwings.

Fox came back from the call furious but it slowly faded away when the vixen got close to him, hugged him and rubbed his back, _"She always knows how to calm me down.."_ he thought to himself and Krystal giggled, he _knew_she read that thought and he slightly laughed at his emberassment, Fox was at peace hugging Krystal there by the waterfall until she yawned and fell asleep in his lap and he sat and thought about what he was going to do to teach her until he decided to sleep, he was at peace and he knew the next day would be even better.

The following day Krystal had gone down from the spot trying to find food to surprise Fox with a breakfast, she came back slightly dissapointed in what little she could find, some eggs and fruit. She fixed them both breakfast and woke the vulpine who was snoring loudly (The only real sleep he had in 2 days). And after breakfast they were surprised by Tricky who had found them.

"Fox?!? You're still here? Why didn't you tell me? Are you just trying to avoid me?" he had asked in a single breath talking rapidly like an eight year old hyperactive child. "Tricky i'm just here for a week, I'm teaching Krystal how to fly an Arwing and the crew is--" "When are you going to teach me how to fly one of those Fox?" he asked not even letting the vulpine finish a sentence "Maybe someday but not anytime soon tricky.." he said trying to get off of that subject knowing that Tricky would never be able to fly due to the obvious reasons. "So her name is Krystal? Or do you just call her that due to she was trapped inside a crystal?" he led on asking obviously annoying the vulpine who just smiled at him wanting to grab Krystal's staff and hit him with it. "That's my real name Tricky" Krystal cut in before Fox ripped his fur out. To Fox's relief they heard Tricky's parents calling him home, "You want to see my parents Fox?!?" he asked before he left, "Maybe tomorrow" the vulpine said trying to avoid that as much as possible before Tricky ran back down the hill and back home.

_"I hope our kids aren't like that.."_Fox thought to himself, "What?!?!" Krystal looked at him with her mouth open playfully slapping him upside the head and laughing. "I deserved that.." he said rubbing the side of his head making the vixen laugh even harder as they both went to their Arwings preparing for the day of training Fox had thought up.

"Okay, pull this handle back to go up and push down to go down and well you already know this so why am i explaining it" the vulpine led on saying basically slapping himself in the face over that one "Anyways, I want you to do what I do" he led on to say getting in his Arwing and flying up doing a couple of somersaults and barrel rolls, Krystal followed nervously going a little slower and trying to do as much as she could, "Good, you'll want to do those if enemies get behind you.. Anyway's next I want you to hold down the green button and don't let go no matter what." The vixen looked around in her cockpit for a green button finding it right under her fingers and pressed it down looking down on the screen as it locked onto Fox's ship, after she locked on him Fox broke the lock and led onto the next step.

The two practiced until it was too dark to see and they both landed back at their camp Fox commented on how well she did and didn't know where to go to next for training but he would think of it later, the two made a fire and sat next to it fixing food and talking again about how training was and how she was progressing compared to him Falco and Slippy.

"Fox, I really like you." Krystal went on to say, "I really like you too Krystal, I'm glad you're on the team you make me alot happier." The vulpine said smiling at her "You're the best friend I could have" she led on to say and he smiled in small defeat wanting to hear more than best friends, but it was a start. Krystal yawned and walked over hugged Fox and went into her tent to sleep. Fox sat outside next to the dying fire thinking about her and whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. He was thinking about how the past months had gone by so quickly how he was once here to save the planet and battling huge dinosaurs that nearly killed him and now he was here on vacation training someone very close to him that at first he thought would be a hassle to save. His thoughts were interrupted by rain that started pouring down and the vulpine went into his tent to sleep unable to get thoughts of Krystal off his mind.

_-Author's Note: Not really much to comment on about this one i know its not the most exciting one but i kind of like it personally, hope you guys are enjoying as well .-_


	8. VIII Krystal's Secret Weapon

VIII. Krystal's Secret Weapon

Fox woke up the next day and was able to tell that the rain had subsided, it was bright and he could hear the sounds of dinosaurs in the distance, a sound he got used to hearing after so long. He got up stretching and walking outside to see that Krystal was still asleep, he couldn't help but peer inside the tent for a second before walking to his Arwing and checking to make sure nothing had stolen anything overnight. After checking on the Arwing he walked back over to the tents and just sat looking at the scenery until the vixen woke up.

The vixen stumbled out of her tent covering her eyes from the light with her hand which made Fox laugh and caused her to jump. After laughing Fox helped the vixen back up smiling at her. "So, what are we going to do today?" She asked him and the vulpine smiled due to he had come up with an idea overnight, "Well i was thinking we could test out to see how good you are with combat." The vixen looked confused at how they would do that but before she could say anything the vulpine went on to explain, "Well basically were going to dogfight, we won't be shooting though for the obvious reasons, first one to lock onto the other wins. We will play until you can finally beat me."

The vulpine expected this not to be much of a challenge for him so he decided to go easy on her by doing only the basic maneuvers and not even using them oftenly, the vulpine studied Krystal like he would any other enemy using her weaknesses as much as possible he knew that she didn't like flying low near trees or any other obstacles so he flew as low as he could.

The first match they had ended very quickly it wasn't even a minute before the vulpine had locked onto the vixen, but on the second round the vixen decided to use her strength against Fox, by using her telepathy to see his next move. They both flew at fast speeds slightly above the ocean and to the vulpine's disbelief Krystal had beaten him to each step he was about to make.

The two slowed up flying side by side now, "So we're done now?" she asked him giggling the vulpine was in a state of shock at that moment even though he was going easy on her he had not expected her to be able to read him like that. "How did you know?" he asked trying to hide his shock as much as possible. "Easy, I read your thoughts." she said still laughing "Cheater" the vulpine returned starting to laugh as well, he had forgotten the vixen's abilities somehow as he always did.

The two slowly flew away from each other until they were off radar and then went at it again, this time Fox didn't go easy on the vixen and it was quickly over, after it was over Fox had regretted not going easy on her. The vixen started laughing again at how competitive the vulpine could be it's something she had expected from him.

The two decided to take a break after the training for lunch which they had to try to find, as always on Sauria it was a selection of several fruit, eggs or they could try to grab a fish but that took too much effort without anything to catch it with. The vulpine had remembered questions he had wanted to ask Krystal when he was busy trying to rescue her but they had gone off his mind since then and were replaced by others.

"So Krystal, what all can you do with that staff?" he asked without hesitating the time it came on his mind again. "Well, I can do alot of things with it, most of the things you could do with it and some that you never learned." She said smiling at him pulling the staff out and handing it to the vulpine. "See the inscriptions change when i give it to you, each time you learn something it gives the staff a different inscription." The vulpine stared as he handed the staff back to Krystal and watching the inscriptions change, he had never paid attention to it enough to notice it. "So what can you do with it that i can't?" he led on to ask smiling at her. "Well on my home planet I could open certain doors with it, I can charge it and electrocute people too, oh and also I can do this too if it's too dark to see.." She said holding the staff upright and suddenly it lit up into an almost blinding light. The vulpine stared in amazement on how much the item could do even though it seemed to be a primitive weapon and he had so many thoughts racing through his mind he didn't know what to ask her next. "Last question...For now, what can i do with it that you can't?" Krystal giggled at his question how he had asked it almost like Tricky would. "I can't do a ground quake I'm not strong enough"

The two kept on talking about how the staff was given to her and how it did so much, magic was something Fox wasn't familiar with at all even though he had been using it for the past months he had thought about what would be the better weapon her staff or his blaster oftenly and was still unsure about that. They both sat there together for hours and before they knew it it was dark and they noticed they would have a problem, It was dark and it would be hard to fly back to their camp plus they were halfway around the planet anyway's so the two decided it would be best to stay there for the night even though they had no idea where they were. Normally Krystal would be terrified to be out in an unknown place but she had confidence that Fox would protect her through almost anything.

Krystal used her staff as a light for both of them as they tried to find a decent spot to sleep at but it got to the point where it was too cold for her to concentrate so she stopped channeling the light for them and they just decided to stay there.

Fox laid there unsure of what to do, he heard Krystal's teeth chattering and wanted to pull her closer to him but didn't want to leave a bad impression at the same time. He questioned if he should pull the vixen near him for several minutes before finally just doing it slowly, he felt her jolt at first before moving closer to him. "Is this okay?" He asked her unsure on whether what he did was bad or good "It's fine, you're actually very comfortable" she said quietly giggling and blushing at what she said. and the two laid there quietly until Fox finally couldn't hold it in anymore and blurted out "Krystal, I think i'm in love with you.." and as soon as he said it he wanted to smack himself. The vixen lay there smiling but didn't know how to respond, suddenly tons of thoughts poured through her mind like: would it work out? He's supposed to be my leader not my boyfriend. She decided to push her emotions aside so she could think it out and played like she was asleep, which made the vulpine angry but yet happy at the same time that he didn't embarrass himself, but he still was curious to know what she would've done in response to hearing him say that. He laid there thinking about what could've happened until he drifted off to sleep.

_-Author's Note - Short chapter and its been a couple days since my last chapter yet again sorry for the wait family issues going on at the moment, anyway's this chapter might have bad grammar i tried to hurry this one up to get something out there, hope you guys are enjoying this and hopefully I'll get a better chapter out tommorow. thanks everyone for reading. also.. I had no idea for a name of this chapter if people are thinking about why i named it that.-_


	9. IX The Creature

IX. The Creature

"Fox, wake up, hurry!" The vulpine was still asleep from the previous night and was snoring slightly, "Fox!!!" Krystal continued trying to wake him until she lost her patience and shook him violently. "What?" The vulpine asked in a groggy voice, looking around at the land surrounding him he had not glanced at the night before and he noticed it was snowing, strange weather for the land area they were at."When i got up there was something messing with the Arwings and now your's wont turn on.

The vulpine looked furious when he heard her news and ran quickly to his Arwing to check out the damage. When he got to his Arwing he saw that something had destroyed the power supply, furiously the vulpine kicked the side of the Arwing leaving a dent in the side (And also injuring his foot slightly). "Who did this?" He asked Krystal trying to hide his anger but still not hiding it well, "I dont know it wasn't a person, atleast i don't think, it seemed more like a weird animal."

"Where did it go?" He then asked her wanting to find who, or what, was responsible. "It just left into the woods, I didn't want to follow it without you awake so I just went to find you" the vulpine groaned and started off into the forests which surrounded the area. _"Gee in the woods it could be anywhere, it could've left by now, why am I doing this i'm just wasting my time_" the vulpine thought to himself as he continued on throughout the area reluctant to his thoughts.

Krystal followed closely behind, Fox was so focused on his thoughts he didn't know or care that Krystal had been reading them he hardly even noticed her until she started shivering behind him"I'm sorry Krystal this is stupid of me, it's not like were going to find anything, we should just go back to Thorntail and--" "Fox what's that??" she asked interrupting him and pointing at an old building in front of them, it was an old building it seemed to be ancient, like all the other buildings on the planet, it had the markings of a Krazoa Spirit over the door and seemed to be falling apart.

Fox knew Krystal had an interest in exploring the old ruins and smiled thinking "_Atleast something decent happened from this"_. The two moved an old block that was in the way of the door and getting inside they found nothing of interest just seemed to be another puzzle that the vulpine had seen alot from and was sick of.

As soon as the two entered the room the block itself moved into the doorway, this was what Fox expected. "Great" he said sighing "Another puzzle, just what I wanted to find" he said as 4 blocks moved out of position and fire started shooting from the walls, shooting more each second and soon the room would be engulfed in flames.

The vulpine let out a low growl sound as he started pushing the blocks back into position and Krystal started to help him, soon the two finished the puzzle and the middle pillar of the room slid to the side and opened up a trapdoor location. The vulpine smiled as he finished the puzzle and the door opened again, as he headed out of the building, Krystal though went further into the room begging him to go. The vulpine sighed and went into the room again and followed Krystal through the trapdoor and down some old stone stairs.

"It should be more fun this time Fox, I'm here." The vixen said smiling and giggling afterwards, the vulpine nodded and smiled at her as he took lead expecting the same old temples that he had been in before. When the two got down to the bottom both of their jaws dropped, everything had been destroyed or was covered in a weird gelatinous purple goo. The two found themselves unable to turn back at this point as they kept going further down and further down until they reached a door which needed Krystal's staff (Or a key) to open.

Krystal got out her staff and opened the door while Fox was examining a hole dug under the door from the side, "Something's in here" he said before entering the room cautiously, when he turned the corner he was staring at one of the biggest creatures he had seen since the King RedEye.

_-Author's Note: Sorry for the wait again i'm kinda busy recently but the wait has made me think of a different way to go with this storyline for this part which i think will be better than what i had originally planned, sorry for the wait, hopefully my next chapter will be up tomorrow night, also short chapter kind of just to build up for next chapter I hope you guys enjoy it, thank you all so much-_


	10. X The Temple's Secrets

X. The Temple's Secrets.

The two stared in amazement and confusion at the huge being that was in front of them trying to figure out why it was just sitting there and not even making the slightest movements. It looked like a weird green bug, it had one eye, eight legs and seemed to be protecting something although it remained motionless staring at the two. Fox finally lost his patience and pulled out his blaster if it was going to wait he was going to take the opportunity, Krystal reached for his arm to stop him but she was too late, the vulpine fired a few shots right into the creature's eye causing it to scurry up onto the ceiling.

Before the two could notice what it was doing it let out a deafening shriek and fell back on the floor running back into the tunnels it seemed to have been protecting. Before Fox knew what had happened he hear a loud rumbling noise, he knew what was about to happen as he reached for Krystal to pull her over to where he was standing he lost his grasp on her arm and the rocks and stones started falling from above into the middle area of the room. Krystal let out a scream and then she went silent, Fox had feared the worst.

Several moments passed before he heard a quiet groan coming from the other side of the rocks that separated the room, he felt relief even though they were still in a bad situation. "Krystal, are you okay?" he asked trying to speak loud so she could hear him. A few more moments passed before he got a response, "I'm fine a rock just landed on my leg, I'm okay though." the vixen stated loudly although he could barely hear her.

Fox started digging out the rocks trying to remove them so they could get to each other and get out of the hell-hole they were dug into. Several minutes passed and still it seemed like he was making no progress, the wall of rubble was huge and it seemed like it would take days at this rate."Fox I've got a better idea, there's a door on my side so maybe you could follow the tunnels and meet me somewhere else." The vixen's idea seemed alot better than his so he grabbed his blaster and the two said their goodbye's for the time being.

The vulpine headed down the long narrow caves trying to find any entrances to caves going towards where Krystal had been trapped, he tried to focus all he could but he couldn't get Krystal off of his mind, he was worried and sick of these temples, caves and puzzles. As he continued on the caves got slimmer and slimmer and he was wondering how such a huge thing could manage to crawl through them.

The vulpine continued on his path for what seemed to be an eternity until he came across some smaller creatures that looked the same as the bigger one, he took out his blaster killing every single one he could find. He soon was in over his head and got bitten by one of the monsters he shrugged it off and kept going not even stopping to look at the wound he now had on his leg, he could feel he was bleeding but he knew it wasn't serious and he had to find Krystal no matter what it took.

He finally found a route that led towards where Krystal had been trapped (Or what he thought was the direction Krystal was trapped in) He followed that path and as soon as he turned to corner it turned into a maze of walls with so many directions to take. The vulpine shot his blaster at the wall in rage and as he did so that cave collapsed, he sighed "I guess this is the direction I'll take now." And he followed the only path remaining winding throughout caverns for hours which seemed to go on for days.

Krystal on the other hand was stuck in a single path a long ancient hallway that seemed to last forever, she came to a bridge over a short gap where at the bottom was lava from the center of the planet, she had not noticed how deep they were until now. She took one step on the old bridge and it fell, she quickly jumped back before falling in, she sighed and walked back the other way only to run back and jump over the gap barely reaching the other side, when she landed she felt a sharp pain in her leg and sat down unable to move it for the moment she sat there looking down the hallway which she had been walking down for hours wondering how long it could go on for she quickly passed out from being so tired.

Fox was still in the maze of tunnels hours later he was exhausted and the pain from the bite earlier had built up he wanted to stop but he knew that Krystal was needing him once again and it was his job to save her, he wouldn't have it any other way in some aspects. Fox managed strength to carry on throughout the caves and finally got to the end where it went into a large room, about the size of the Great Fox, he let out a sigh of relief before falling to his knees in exhaustion _"I'll stop for just a second..." _He thought to himself before forcing himself back up he knew he couldn't stop because both of their lives were in danger and stopping would be the worst move he could make.

Krystal woke up and suddenly started hearing noises nearby when she stood up she saw shadowed figures in the room, she had let her guard down and was unprotected it was a major flaw for the vixen. She used her spell to use her staff as a light, it would go out very quickly.

Fox heard a loud echoing scream, his heart almost stopped he knew who the scream had come from and he couldn't help a tear from coming to his eye at that moment, his limping turned to running after he had brought himself together.

The vulpine was hoping that any moment he'd hear something from the vixen's telepathy, he didn't know she was trying it the whole time, the caves were a telepath's worst nightmare, the walls made brainwave communication impossible even for the best of their kind. He kept running faster than he ever had before despite his leg injury he was pushing himself as much as he could as he finally reached the door at the end of the room he didn't hesitate to figure the door out he shot it a few times with his blaster until it was destroyed and he then bolted through the next room where he moved a block to reach the higher door on the other side of the room.

As soon as Fox got through the next door he noticed he was standing right in front of one of the huge creatures from earlier except this one was different, it was white instead of green. He tried to bolt away from it, not wanting to fight at that moment but the creature charged at him, he rolled out of the way at the last second. He let out a sigh "I don't want to kill you but if you insist.." and charged his blaster shooting it in the eye directly it shrieked in pain and charged him again, he tried to dodge but he was expecting it to run on the ceiling like the other one and he was caught off guard.

The vulpine let out a hacking cough as he hit the wall, it had knocked the breath out of him, he knew he had no time to waste though and quickly dove for his blaster which he had dropped on the impact of the charge, he then charged up another shot rolled away from the creatures charge and shot it dead in the eye. The creature let out a final screech and fell over dead.

The vulpine smiled in victory but he knew he hadn't won yet as he took a few breaths before heading off towards the next room.

He couldn't help himself from coughing as he entered the next room there was a small, narrow walkway over lava that was constantly shooting up. The vulpine had no time to waste on fear or even to realistically think of the situation, he watched the lava for a few moments trying to time the movements, even though most of it wasn't predictable.

He took a deep breath and ran over the pathway, pieces were falling off of the walkway while he ran, he had to leap over the missing pieces. When he finally got to the end he noticed his tail had caught fire and he let out a yelp and put it out, letting out a sigh as he entered the next room, he had no idea if he was going the right way or not but he knew it'd be almost impossible to return from here with that thought he remembered he'd have to make his way back to get out of the temple.

The vulpine was exhausted and could hardly move everything was sore, even his lungs burned, he could hardly keep his eyes open but he still pressed on hoping that Krystal was still somehow alive He continued down the long narrow room and to his relief he heard a groan that could only come from Krystal.

He turned on the flashlight on his blaster to try and find the vixen, he searched the room frantically until he finally found her but he couldn't believe what had happened.

The vixen was curled into a ball shaking and crying, "Krystal are you okay?" he asked but she didn't respond he walked over and put his hand on the vixens forehead it was burning hot, he then turned her to face him and he got closer to her trying to get her to respond to him in some way.

"Krystal, please say something, what happened?" he kept on trying to get her to respond to him in any way, she looked at him barely keeping her eyes open, the vulpine pulled her as close as he could to him "It....It.." she tried to say she was struggling to breathe and she looked up at the vulpine who was trying to hold his tears back but he couldn't stand to see Krystal like this. "It...Bit..Me...." she finally let out and she started crying uncontrollably.

The vulpine didn't know how to take the news he just was thinking to himself at first _"I got bit and I didn't end up like this..."_ He then remembered it had been a smaller one, he searched her body for a wound but couldn't find one until the vixen moved her hand from her hip which was covered in blood, the wound seemed huge and it looked like it was turning green, his heart almost stopped again, for the third time in the whole issue.

He tried to think over her symptoms as fast as he could he tried to turn on his PDA to speak with Peppy or anyone who could help him, to his disgust he found out that it had broken along the way he took the device off his wrist and threw it across the room. He tried to focus back on Krystal's issue, thinking as fast as he could on how he could help her, he remembered when Tricky's mother got sick he had to find a certain mushroom to heal her and they loved to be in spots like this he quickly took Krystal's staff kissed her on the forehead and ran in search for White GrubTubs.

Luckily he found a huge group of them in the corner of the room he used the staff hitting them to stun them, they had a knack for running away, and captured them stuffing them in whatever pocket he could, he didn't know how many she would need but he assumed she'd need alot.

He quickly ran back to Krystal finding her in an even worse condition, she seemed to be gasping for every breath and the vulpine's heart was about to stop "Here, Krystal eat these they'll help I promise." he said feeding her the mushrooms he had quickly gather he could tell she wanted to spit it out as soon as possible, he could only imagine the taste.

After a few minutes she started breathing easier and stopped shaking as rapidly, the vulpine was relieved to see her getting better but then good thoughts were ruined when he realized that they had to get out somehow. but he pushed that aside for a moment (or tried to as it still haunted the back of his mind) and focused on Krystal. He laid down next to her groaning and started to care for the wound he had sustained on his leg from earlier, he was exhausted and sore from this whole mishap and just wanted to go back to his "home".

The vulpine laid there next to Krystal holding her and caring for her until she fell asleep then the vulpine got up and picked up Krystal trying his best not to wake her and he headed back throughout the underground maze he had gone through wanting to get out as fast as possible

_-Author's Note: Long chapter to make up for last one.. Ideas have been flowing pretty well for some reason today, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, thank you all for reading your comments help me alot! Also..It's a shame to add this chapter (Not really) but I had to comment that before this chapter the story had 12345 words total...lawl-_


	11. XI The Way Out?

XI. The Way Out??

Fox ran as fast as he could, still exhausted, he just wanted to fall over and pass out but he knew he couldn't he struggled to keep himself awake and continued on.

He continued on the path he had used to get there trying to remember it the best he could and going as fast as he could while carrying Krystal he soon found himself in the room where he had killed the one of the monsters and noticed he had left a trail of blood from his wound, this would actually be a good thing, he could follow it out of the mazes.

Hours passed as he kept trying to keep himself up he didn't know how long he had been on this whole adventure it felt like it had been days. He found himself soon at an intersection of caves again tunnels going in each direction all over, by then Krystal had already woken up, the vulpine could tell from the groans she made from being hurt. "I thought those mushrooms were supposed to help you...." he said angrily when he heard the vixen "I don't think it helps wounds, just poisons.." she said quietly she was barely able to talk.

Fox remembered that he had not done anything about the vixen's wound, expecting the GrubTubs to do all of the work, he let out a sigh and slowly laid her on the ground and scavenged his pockets for a bandage.

After quickly bandaging her he picked her back up and started walking, barely keeping his balance. Thirst, hunger and exhaustion were taking its toll on the vulpine, Krystal noticed his swaying as he tried to walk"Fox are you ok?" She asked even though it was obvious he wasn't "Yeah I'm fine Krystal, I'm mainly worried about you." Krystal smiled even though the situation was grim, he knew how to cheer her up in desperate situations.

The vulpine continued struggling until he finally got to the area where he was wounded, he was shocked to realize nothing was there now, not even corpses. "Something's wrong here.." the vulpine thought aloud, there was no response from Krystal who had already passed out again he could feel her breath on his chest. He let out a grunt and started running as fast as he could trying to get to the exit as fast as possible before more trouble arrived, the bodies being gone were a good sign of trouble to him.

The vulpine continued running until he was hoarse, breathing heavy and his heart was beating as fast as possible feeling like it could explode at any moment, his eyes were constantly trying to close. The vulpine couldn't fight anymore, he suddenly dropped to his knees trying to get up but he didn't have the strength, his arms gave out and he dropped Krystal and his whole body went limp. He laid there fighting to keep his eyes open laying on the ground, all his vision had become a blur, he could only notice darkness and a blue blur that he knew was Krystal.

The vulpine felt her touching his face and couldn't understand what she was saying although she did say something to him, she used her telepathy when he couldn't respond and she knew he had ran himself to the point of unconsciousness. The vulpine mumbled something to her which she could barely hear "Krystal.....I'm sorry.." was the last thing he could say before passing out.

Krystal sat there trying to hold her emotions back, the vulpine had risked everything to save her for a fourth time now and she was too shy to even admit her feelings for him and she knew it would make him so happy. She tried to control herself but she couldn't stop from letting out a few tears, but she knew she had to protect them both at this point until the vulpine regained consciousness even though she was hurt. She sat beside him with her hand on his back watching to make sure nothing would come.

Hours passed in boredom for Krystal she spent most of the time looking at her wound and Fox's which she had just noticed, and cared for because Fox had not in his whole effort of saving her.

She then saw something that made her want to flee, though she knew she couldn't. The green monster from earlier was walking down the cave and obviously hadn't noticed them yet.

She quickly pulled her staff out and fired a fire blast at it, only getting it's attention making it charge at her. She was weak and couldn't get out of the way, the vixen flew back several feet before hitting a wall. The creature then noticed Fox, the vixens heart almost stopped when she saw it about to impale the vulpine with one of its sharp legs. She quickly got up to her feet using the frost blast of her staff she froze the being, only for a few seconds though.

Shaken the creature redirected it's focus on her and quickly charged again, she tried using the freeze blast again but couldn't she was out of magical energy "Great.." she thought aloud as the creature got closer to her. She tried to find her staff but she had dropped it when she was hit by the charging monster. The creature raised one of its legs directly over her head she tried to struggle out of the situation but it didn't work. She tried moving her head before it's leg came down and it worked, but it only prolonged the inevitable. She let out a quick scream as it lifted its leg again, she heard a loud noise and a bright light, suddenly the creature fell to the ground, Fox had gotten up just in time to save her. The vulpine limped over to her shooting the creature once again to make sure it was dead.

"You okay?" he asked worried about her but he noticed no other wounds, just the one from before which seemed to be bleeding an enormous amount "Yeah I'm fine, thanks to you." She said smiling at the vulpine who had helped her up. Fox picked up her staff and started to give it to Krystal but when she tried to grab it they found themselves holding hands, they both stared at each other for a few seconds before they heard a loud screech from elsewhere in the caverns, snapping back to their senses she took the staff and tried to walk with the vulpine out of the huge maze they were trapped inside.

About five minutes down the path Krystal could not manage the strength to walk anymore so once again the vulpine was carrying her, this time extremely thirsty and hungry but it was still much better than before since he had rested. From time to time while walking he looked at the bandage on her hip, it seemed to not be working anymore from the amount of blood from the wound, he didn't want to admit it but he was worried sick about it he had never seen a wound like this before. The vulpine kept walking until finally reaching the first room with a sigh of relief he couldn't help but smile slightly, it was a long hard trip and he was glad to be out of it.

The smile soon turned to a expression of anger as he noticed there was a door shut where the entrance had been, but he remembered he had one bomb spore left so he placed it and used his blaster to explode the door, he had lost his appreciation for the old ancient temple, he would blow it up for any reason possible.

The vulpine finally made his way up the stairs carrying Krystal, whose body had gone limp hours before. Making his way out into the woods and going to the Arwings he laid Krystal down on the grass and laid down himself "It's finally over.." He said with relief, his whole body hurt from the ordeal, he was hungry and thirsty.

Krystal groaned loudly she was barely shaking the vulpine's eyes opened as wide as possible when he heard her "_Why can't just one thing go right.." _He thought to himself. He got up and checked on Krystal seeing her condition worse than before he quickly rummaged through his Arwing trying to find anything to help her, sadly not finding anything but an old warm water which he quickly grabbed and headed back out.

"Here drink this it might help if you're thirsty.." he said she barely opened her eyes looking at him she mumbled something barely understandable "Help me please I'm in so much pain right now.." He kneeled down next to her and sadly didn't know what to do he took off the bandage to look at the wound and instantly felt sick to his stomach, she saw his reaction and was disheartened.

"Am I going to...Die?" She asked him and she saw the vulpine's face turn pale and saw a tear roll down his cheek, he had never thought of losing her after getting out. The vulpine barely said "You'll be fine..Just.....Calm down I guess, I'll make sure you're okay" It was obvious he didn't know what to do at this point as he fought back tears.

She then said without even thinking about it "If you want me to calm down...Tell me that you love me again and that I'll be okay" and she realized what she had actually said aloud but was happy she said it in some ways. The vulpine's eyes opened wide at what she said and she let out a quiet laugh waiting for the vulpine's response.

_-Author's note - I'm going to keep this note short, I'm about to pass out seriously so sorry about any errors i may have skipped, spellcheck didn't catch anything, anyways thanks for reading and your reviews you guys are helping me and making me feel like this is somewhat a success, anyways thanks everyone your comments mean alot._


	12. XII I Said What?

XII. I Said What?

The vulpine stared at her speechless at what she had said to him "_when did I?...This makes no sense"_ He thought to himself. The vixen became worried a few moments later when the vulpine still hadn't made a move or a sound she groaned loudly at him to snap him back to his senses.

"Krystal...I-- I never told you that I loved you.." He said trying to hide his real emotions for her, he was too shy to admit that he did love her. "Yeah you did..The night before we went into the--" Krystal stopped to cough before finishing "Before we went into that temple you said 'Krystal, I think I'm in love with you'" when she was finished the vulpine's face had gone blood red "I--I thought you didn't hear that.." he said he kept blushing he never liked being put on spot like this, even though he was a leader and a hero to many he was still shy towards newer people to him and never has he been shy of anyone like he had Krystal.

"I made a mistake." he said, he was confused and didn't know what to do, the whole situation he was in had not really settled into his mind but he felt a sickening feeling in his stomach after telling her that. "So you don't love me?" She said it was obvious she had not expected the vulpine to react this way.

"Krystal I--I" He continued to say he wanted to just get away from this situation in any way possible. "Krystal hold on i'm going to get something for your wound real quick i'll tell you in a minute.." he said getting up and walking to his Arwing again, he was trying to think of not one but two things now, how to save her and how to either ignore his emotions or let her know his real emotions for her.

He went into Krystal's Arwing looking for anything he found a box of bandages and also tried to use it to contact The Great Fox. "Dang" the vulpine hit the screen when it said he could not establish a connection with the ship.

The vulpine sat in the cockpit of the Arwing thinking about the whole situation until he had finally thought of the way to do this. _"It's okay...All I have to say is that we should get to know each other better until i build my confidence, that's all.....I can do this" _He thought to himself gathering confidence to confront her.

When the vulpine had finally got to her he noticed something, she had passed out apparently while he was gone. He kicked the ground angrily at the fact that he had finally gotten a way out of his situation and it didn't matter. The vulpine bandaged her and tried to figure out what to do about her medical issue.

He normally hadn't acted like this in an emergency situation, normally he was cool and everything went fine but this time he was worried and trying to figure out what to do, he finally grabbed her and got into her Arwing. Setting her down on his lap he slowly took off, it was dark and the vulpine could hardly see where anything finally taking off he flew straight not even knowing where he would go but he knew anywhere would be better than waiting. He looked at Krystal and sighed he wanted to tell her so much but now she probably wouldn't listen to what he had to say, he kept on thinking about her and he was determined to just tell her the truth he loved her and would risk anything for her. He could hear tree limbs snapping off the side of the Arwing, he had been lost in thought and flew too low he couldn't see anything until finally he could somewhat see the reflection of the moon off some water he paid close attention to his radar which was now showing a map for him.

The vulpine kept looking at Krystal on and off until he finally paid attention to her for one more second than he should have. The ship flew into some trees and then flew into the ground with a loud crash. Not only had the famous hero lost his cool in a situation he had also crashed, something he had never done without being in combat before.

The vulpine's head hit the radar screen when he crashed almost knocking him out and leaving a gash on his forehead. He saw blood running down the radar screen, but all he could see was a red blur running across a black blur. Krystal woke up at the sound of the crash startled that she woke up in such a strange position it had thrown her down in front of the vulpine's knees she heard the vulpine breathing heavy above her and she tried to figure out where they were.

She pushed him out of the way, got up and saw where they were, all she could see was darkness and a few areas in the windshield where it had cracked she then looked over at the vulpine and saw him slumped down face down on the screen. "Fox?" she said but he didn't answer he had passed out, the vixen sighed at how life had drastically changed for her in the past few months and was worried for both of them. She sat there beside Fox motionless thinking about how he would answer her question from earlier and fell asleep beside him in the cramped up cockpit of the Arwing.

_-Author's note for this chapter on next-_


	13. XIII The Rescue

XIII. The Rescue

Meanwhile on The Great Fox the team were impatiently awaiting the return of their leader in orbit of Sauria, the team had received new Arwings that were faster more durable and a newer sleek design, new weapons and also the newly renovated Great Fox.

"I bet Fox will have a kid in a few months" Falco said while they were all sitting in the main room waiting. "Nah, he's too nervous to even say hi to her let alone even ask her out." Slippy barked in and the two laughed while Peppy continued to read the same book he had been reading for years, it had no title and Noone knew what it was.

"This is taking too long he knew he was supposed to come back here today and he even turned off his PDA screw this i'm going to go find him." Falco finally said walking out into the docking bay, he would use any excuse to fly his new Arwing he wanted to get used to the controls to be better than any of the other teammembers at flying and he wanted everyone to know it. Slippy decided to follow and the two flew to the planet in search for Fox and Krystal.

Krystal woke up she could barely see the sun rising over all the dirt that had been dug up on the glass of the ship. She poked the vulpine not knowing that he was already awake. "I'm awake...I just have a migraine right now" He said moving slightly away from her, she used her telepathy to try and read his thoughts but when she did she could only feel the pain from his headache and she quickly stopped. She looked up and couldn't believe what she saw, two ships flew above them flying by and not even stopping at the wreckage, she sighed thinking for a moment that they were saved but then it flew away. Krystal didn't know what to do in the situation she had no idea where they were and they were stranded so her safest option would be to be patient and wait with Fox.

"Krystal...I'm sorry about yesterday, if you haven't noticed i'm really nervous around you..." The vulpine mumbled Krystal smiled and rubbed the temples of his head easing his pain although hers was almost unbearable."It's fine it was a mistake that I said that too." He slightly laughed and moved his arm so he could hold her and he raised his head slightly before laying it back down the light made his condition worse so he decided it wasn't worth it.

Krystal lowered her head near his kissing him on the back of the neck and then laying it down and looking in his eyes. The vulpine smiled at her and couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle, she had no idea on how happy what she just did made him. "We're in a mess aren't we?" She said giggling slightly the vulpine slightly nodded. He didn't know what to do at this point he couldn't even think straight at the moment he knew one think he wanted to say so he just opened his mouth and tried to word it.

"Krystal I do umm...--" he had to stop due to there was knocking on the glass they both jumped and looked up it was Slippy and he was obviously laughing _"Great...I wanted help but not this...Atleast not now.." _The vulpine thought as he lost his chance, it was the one time he could've said this where he felt somewhat relaxed due to he couldn't think about the consequences.

Slippy opened the cockpit pulling the vulpine out and then doing the same with Krystal laughing at them both still "You two were hard to find we had to use the tracker on the Arwings we went to yours' first but Noone was there now look hah!" he said to them and the vulpine wanted to do something to make the frog silent. The vulpine let out a fake laugh and groaned in pain covering his eyes from the sunlight the frog never noticed their wounds and called Peppy in to come with a medical ship they had been assigned which Falco argued they wouldn't need.

Peppy flew down and picked them both up Fox was surprised with the new equipment he barely got a glance at before hurrying inside the ship which unluckily was fully lighted. The vulpine laid his head down letting out a groan what happened next was unexpected for him. Krystal kissed him on the cheek not noticing that Peppy was watching the two. Peppy cleared his throat looking at the two and they both raised up instantly blushing madly.

The group finally made it onboard the new Great Fox, Fox had no chance to look at the new improvements he quickly went into his room with an icepack and they took Krystal to the Medical Bay. They both were just happy to have made it back alive.

_-Author's Note: Decided to do 2 chapters today even though they're short i thought it'd look better in the end, anyways thanks for reading , hope you are enjoying this.-_


	14. XIV The Time Ahead

XIV. The Time Ahead.

Fox and Krystal both seemed to disappear for a couple days, the vulpine had a migraine for a few days due to the blow to the head he took and the vixen had slowly recovered from her wound in her newly made room on the ship which was much better than sleeping on the couch. Sadly when the two got better they were too nervous to talk to each other with the presence of Falco, Slippy, Peppy and even R.O.B.. The two never had any alone time which made them grow apart from each other, Fox oftenly went to the middle floor, which was walled in entirely by glass to look out as they flew by stars, planets and even other ships, to think about how things had gone between him and Krystal but every time he thought of it he got angry with how he acted around her. He wanted to be more than friends with Krystal and it was tearing at him each time he thought of it but he knew that the perfect time for him to make an impression had past.

The team made it's way back to Corneria where Krystal trained Arwing skills on the moon of the planet which had become a training ground for the Cornerian Army and was the one Fox had trained on prior to the Lylat Wars. She kept on getting better and better until she had become almost as good as Falco and even competed with Fox himself.

The vulpine started training too and eventually got a knack for the new Arwings but oftenly pulled out his old Arwing, that had been repaired yet again, to fly around for fun and to look at the scenery of the surrounding planets.

The training routine for the team became repetitive for a couple months until they finally were fed up with the same training, and were ready for a job, any job they could get, but sadly the team didn't get any calls from General Pepper.

The team was on the edge of splitting up again, Fox became worried of what Krystal would do if the team split up so he decided it was time he should spend time with her and tell her what he really felt even though he had said it before it was all slip ups and weren't taken serious, or so he thought.

The vulpine sat in his room sitting on the side of the bed he was talking to himself of how to ask the vixen out to do something "So Krystal I was wondering if you'd like to try a new restaurant out in Katina?" he said to himself he liked how that one sounded and rehearsed it again and again before finally getting the strength to go out and ask her but before he could exit the room he heard the alarm and new that General Pepper was contacting them. Furiously he stormed out of the room but hid it as soon as the door opened so Noone would see him act this way.

"Incoming call from General Pepper" R.O.B. said loudly, "I know I know." The vulpine said entering the room to find Noone else in the main room "Answer the call" Fox commanded to the robot who pulled the general on screen "Hello Fox long time no see." The general said before they could both hear the stampeding of feet on the stairs as Slippy Falco and Peppy finally got up to the bridge of the ship. "Nice of you to join us" the vulpine said, "Where's Krystal?" "Oh, she's probably asleep or something" Slippy said. The vulpine sighed before asking the general what he called about.

"Well there's been an attack on a town in Katina, apparently it's a gang but we have our hands full at the moment. Could you and your team handle it?" The general went on to say "Alright that sounds easy enough" The vulpine concluded "Just give Peppy the coordinates and we'll be on our way" The team then got their stuff ready to go while the vulpine knocked on the vixen's door loudly. "Krystal we need you out here!" The vulpine yelled so she could hear. "I'll be out in a sec" She yelled back as he sighed and leaned against the wall tapping his foot as he waited.

"Hey Fox this is what you get for having a girl join the team they take ages getting ready" Falco said in his normal joking way and the vulpine just shrugged it off before the wall, or what he thought was the wall, opened and he came crashing to the floor which made everyone burst with laughter, blushing the vulpine got up only to be caught staring at the vixen's new clothes she had gotten for flying it was a black and blue catsuit with boots, the blue in the suit matched her fur perfectly.

The vulpine continued staring as if time had stopped Peppy smiled and slightly chuckled because Fox was giving her the look he had when he had first seen her on Sauria almost a year ago. The vixen blushed and let out a slight giggle at the vulpine's staring luckily at that moment Falco and Slippy weren't around, they were already getting prepped for take off. "How does it look?" She asked unable to keep from laughing slightly "Beautiful.." he said it was the only words that he could say at that moment he was stunned at the way the vixen looked. "So why do you need me?" She asked him twice, the first time the vulpine didn't respond and she had to snap him out of his staring. "Oh uh...We're needed on Katina its supposed to be an emergency.." The vulpine said goofishly .

"Cool our first mission." She said and the vulpine thought of all the 'missions' they had to do in the past with Sauria and he couldn't help but laugh _"If those weren't missions I don't want to know what this will be.."_ He thought to himself and Krystal laughed too "Well these will be easier, hopefully." The vixen said and the vulpine scratched his head it never stopped amazing him how she could do that.

The group took off en route to Katina on the fly there the vulpine was making preparations for his Arwing a routine he always did before entering a battle unknown to him that the vixen was watching him almost like he watched her when she wasn't looking she sighed thinking about how fast things had gone by in the long run and was depressed to know the only time they had together alone was when she was either in trouble or in pain, she sighed thinking about how he rescued her multiple times but then tried to focus on the present and got ready for whatever they might encounter.

The team flew into the atmosphere of Katina which was extremely hot compared to Corneria or Sauria, their Arwings seemed to catch fire from the heat as they flew down but the Arwings strong exterior repelled the flames.

"Okay Peppy where are we going?" The vulpine asked and then their radars went online "Okay you're going to want to head for the red dots on your radar they are the areas they've been spotted, they might have hostages.." The hare stated "There's an area in the field to your north where you can land, Arwings wont help you here." "Alright, I want Falco to stay up and watch the skies just in case" The vulpine ordered knowing that the bird hated to fight on land.

Slippy, Krystal, and Fox landed their ships side by side in the field where they were told to and headed in towards the town. The vulpine noticed the vixens legs starting to shake slightly as they headed towards the town they could hear yelling, screaming, clanging and gunfire even. The vulpine wanted to hug her right then and there but had to control himself. "You okay Krystal?" He said looking over at her "Y-Yeah I'm fine just a little nervous.." She went onto say. "Okay well then Slippy could you take the building on the left alone I can take the building on the right with Krystal since shes nervous I don't want her getting hurt" He said pulling out his blaster "Alright you two lovers take the right" Falco barked in on the radio laughing making the vulpine jump.

The group split up and headed into the buildings, the vulpine quickly stopped the vixen who almost walked into sensor bombs at the entrance shot them and continued on after they blew up. They entered the building which was apparently a clothes store of some sort, the vulpine wasn't familiar with this town so he didn't know what anything was, "Okay Krystal i'll go first just follow up at a safe distance" He said and the vixen nodded and silently followed the vulpine as they walked into the store.

Looking around the vulpine spotted their first suspect who had a mask on with what seemed to be a machine gun from the Cornerian military in his hand and he was holding up a cashier who was shaking with fear. The vulpine thought for a second before coming up with an idea, he motioned for Krystal to wait there while he crept over and pulled the fire alarm the loud alarm was enough distraction for the cashier to run away and then the vulpine shot the suspect in the leg making him fall over.

He then turned around and saw motion under a pile of clothing he quickly ran over to see who or what it was but it ended out to be someone else who had worked there, the two then searched the rooms finding whoever was left inside. A few moments later Krystal got on the radio "Fox I need your help over here" he could hear commotion in the background and he quickly ran to the purple dot on the radar on his new PDA. When the vulpine reached her he found her in a struggle with another suspect and he charged in pulling him off of Krystal and knocking him out before helping the vixen up who had no significant injuries just a busted lip, this injury still made Fox furious with himself he always hated it when a teammate got in trouble like this, it made him think he was a bad leader.

The two made their way out of the store and suddenly saw that the building to their left had caught fire and the vulpine rushed in hoping Slippy was alright but after getting past the group of onlookers that had arrived he saw the frog coming out towards him.

"What happened?" Fox asked him before he had a chance to say anything, he was breathing heavy and was gasping for breath saying "They just blew up the safe to get the money and then they left, I couldn't stop 'em and get the people out before the whole building burned." Slippy said before sitting down. The vulpine put his palm up to cover his face while he thought of all General Pepper would say to him after this.

"Come on...I guess we're done here" The vulpine sighed and the three headed back to their Arwings as the local fire department rushed to the scene.

The flight back to base was silent for the Starfox team they knew that Fox saw their battle as a loss and Krystal wanted to do something for him as she read his mind he was basically beating himself up over it she used her telepathy to talk to him "It's okay Fox, you did all you could." she instantly saw the vulpine let out a small smile but only for a short second.

The vixen continued reading his thoughts as the vulpine thought he was a bad leader and how he failed the team she felt sorry for him and tried to think of something they could do together she thought that would cheer him up, and she was right.

_-Author's Note: Yeah longer chapter tonight short action in it this is mainly just to setup what's next i decided to skip some time on the training due to there wasn't much to write about that so hopefully Noone will be mad about that anyway's thanks for reading this and thanks for the reviews they help a ton-_


	15. XV Avoiding Attention

XV. Avoiding Attention

When the team finally arrived at their base they celebrated a small victory, Fox avoided everyone and headed down to the middle rooms to think in privacy. The vixen tried to follow him but quickly lost track of him.

The vulpine sat looking around The Great Fox at the stars as they flew by thinking about the way the day had gone. The vixen finally had found him and as soon as she tried to say something to him he had left the room and gone upstairs, she sighed quickly trying to follow the vulpine.

She followed him all the way to the docking bay where he then got into his old Arwing and begun taking off, she tried yelling at him to get his attention but the noise was too much for her voice to overcome. She quickly got in her Arwing and chased him, the vulpine wasn't paying attention and never noticed the vixen following him. She kept her distance from the vulpine for a few moments watching as he did several flips and then steadied out and headed into the distance as fast as his old Arwing could. She easily chased him thanks to the newer Arwings speed and followed him as he continued flying she decided it would be the time then to let him know she was there.

The vixen tried to open communications with him but the older Arwing didn't have a connection with the newer ones, she sighed and followed him hoping he'd go somewhere where she could speak with him.

The vulpine continued flying trapped in thoughts mainly about Krystal until his PDA blared loudly and Falco started talking to him through the Arwings radio. "Fox where are you buddy? We didn't notice you leave!" "I'm just flying around, thinking that's all." The vulpine replied "Thinking eh? That new girlfriend of your's has made you soft Fox." The bird said before Fox angrily said "She's not my-" "Yeah yeah I know anyway's have fun flying around come back in one piece." The bird then ended the transmission and the vulpine went back to thinking looking at the old picture of his father on the dashboard of his Arwing and flying off, not even noticing the vixen beside him.

The vixen had used her telepathy to try and talk to him but every time she tried it was drowned out by him thinking of so much and most of the time he didn't expect her presence so he thought it was just in his head. The vulpine finally flew towards Corneria and she slowed up so she wouldn't be noticed by him, she wanted to surprise him at this point.

He flew down under the clouds with blazing speed pulling up just in time so he was barely over the water, he flew to a beach where he landed, it was deserted and it seemed like Noone had touched it in years, it was the vulpine's own secret spot he had gone to to think about anything that was troubling him.

The vixen flew by unnoticed by the vulpine and landed further down the shore behind some trees so he wouldn't see her or expect her, she sat in the cockpit of her Arwing thinking about how she would explain that she had followed the fox for what seemed to be an hour now.

She finally built up her courage to approach the vulpine she got past the trees and was shocked to see the vulpine he was bent over and looked depressed for some reason she could feel his thoughts without even trying they were so strong but she couldn't read what they exactly were of. She ran over to the vulpine "Fox!" She yelled at him as she ran to him and put her hand on his shoulder which made him jump up. "Krystal..Wh-What are you doing here?!?" "I wanted to talk to you so I might have followed you around.." She said letting out a foolish grin at him. He was shocked at this strange surprise and wasn't sure if it was a good or bad surprise he expected the worst to come after a day like this.

The two sat staring at each other for a few moments before the vulpine sat back down in the sand his thoughts were suddenly turned to confusion on why the vixen was now there, but they slowly drifted back to the depressing feeling she felt from him earlier. "What's wrong?" She asked him and the vulpine turned to her "Well a couple of things..I don't know if I want to talk about them.." he said before the vixen pleaded for him to tell her finally he gave in.

"First off I don't think I'm a good leader anymore." The vixen tried not to smile at him but she had thought he was the best leader possible "You're a great leader you just take things too serious sometimes like small things that mess up and you blame yourself for them when you couldn't do anything about them." She said to him patting him on the back and sitting next to him, he looked over at her slightly smiling and she moved in closer to him almost sitting on top of him.

"What's the second one?" She asked him and he blushed and he didn't want to tell her what the second one was due to it was about her. "Well I don't want to talk about this one but...I guess all I can say about this one is.." He paused for a moment thinking of what he would say to her. "I guess it's like, have you ever wanted something really badly but were too scared and nervous to do anything with it because you were scared you'd screw it all up?" she giggled slightly at him and she finally smiled at him and said "Well sometimes you just need to take a chance I guess." He slightly smiled at her his lip quivered slightly he started getting nervous around her and she could tell easily. "What is it that you want though?" She had to ask him in hope that her advice would've made him more confident the vulpine turned bright red and started shaking a little more rapidly but still it was hardly noticeable. "Well it's--uh..I don't really want to say honestly can we just leave it at that?" The vixen laughed after he said it because she loved when he acted this way, she smiled at him and put her hand over his. "Is it me?" She finally asked but she knew when she did that it would be bad afterwards. The vulpine sat there silently shaking even more now he took a few deep breaths thinking about what to say, he knew he wanted to say yes but when he tried to say it, it only came out as "Uhh.." The vixen watched as the vulpine struggled to come up with something to say before she finally decided that she would ask her question later and to just leave him be, she kissed him on the cheek and walked back to her Arwing. She couldn't help but smile at the fact that the vulpine actually still liked her. The vulpine sat dumbfounded as the vixen left and suddenly he snapped back to his senses and tried yelling "Krystal, wait!" the vixen barely could hear the fox yell and hurried back to him.

The vulpine stumbled to his feet and waited for her and when she got to him he tried to talk to her but as usual he was nervous for a few seconds and she smiled at him as wide as he had ever seen it. "Would you like to go to dinner or something tommorow?" He finally worded out after stuttering for a few seconds and she smiled even wider "I'd love to" and she kissed him on the cheek twice and left the vulpine alone to think. The vulpine's worries were instantly gone and he had a good feeling his hands still trembled and his cheek tingled from where she had kissed him, he felt amazing.

_-Author's Note: Short chapter because it's late tonight plus i thought this chapter was perfect how it went, I really loved writing it and hope you love reading it, thanks for your reviews and support guys you help me get the confidence to post this hope you are enjoying this fanfic.-_


	16. XVI Looking For A Gift

XVI. Looking For A Gift

The vulpine flew back to The Great Fox after thinking about what he would do about their date they had planned. When he got back he was in a very good mood compared to before and the team was confused on what had happened and before they knew it he had already left to Corneria again.

The vulpine was doing something he hated to do and hadn't done in a long long time, he was shopping for anything that looked less noticeable to a crowd, and looking for something to give to the one he loved so much but was always too nervous to tell her. Walking around the Corneria City Mall he found some of the necessities for dating that he had not even bothered to ever get.

While walking around he had seen a necklace that seemed to say Krystal to him, he got sidetracked and went in the store to check it out he noticed the gem looked similar to the glow of her staff in some way, something that had not been matched before. "Sir I see you've been looking at that necklace for a while" A female employee said to him which made him jump and turn to face her, she was a feline that almost looked like Katt did but her voice did not match. "If you're getting a gift for someone special that would be the best possible thing for them. It's a rare gem that we can't get anymore so this is the only one we have in stock, it's expensive though." she went onto say the vulpine was stuck in thought.

He was never good with money but on something like this he didn't want to get anything too great for her, it might make her suspicious of him. "Hmm.." He was stuck in thought for a few moments before finally asking "What else do you have?".

Meanwhile on The Great Fox Krystal was target practicing, trying to get used to a blaster, it was easier for her to use than her staff in some ways to her amazement but she preferred her staff anyway's. The targets would slide out randomly in different areas starting slow but picking up pace until they were just blurs like some of the enemies she would soon face. She stopped only a half hour later, her eyes hurt from trying to track the blurs she had stopped almost moments before the vulpine returned and headed down the stairs to the floor she was on.

She heard his footsteps come closer until she was staring at him, to him this was a regular moment, but she saw it as their first moments alone together in a long time (excluding their previous meeting). "Hi Krystal, practicing?" She paused for a moment staring at him and looking at the bag he had in his hand but she then focused back on him "Yeah" She muttered he could tell she was acting suspicious she walked over to him checking if anyone was nearby "Want to help me?" She asked, he couldn't refuse her.

She smiled as the vulpine helped her with the blaster telling her everything it did, she enjoyed it even though she had known all of the information. "Okay now try shooting at the targets, I'm sure you know the drill by now." He said slightly chuckling knowing that she had been practicing before.

The vixen's eyes went off and on from the targets to Fox, she now knew why he was so nervous in lots of situations with her before. Her arm was shaking slightly, it always did when she tried shooting or even concentrating and trying to keep something steady, she had no idea why. Her shaking caused her shots to go off a little bit missing the center but still hitting. The vulpine noticed her shaking arm and he moved towards her.

Before the vixen noticed he had moved she felt his hand on her arm and her shaking got worse than before this time it was her turn to be nervous."Here, let me help you." he said before he steadied it and with his help she shot four in the center. The vixen blushed wildly the whole time she had wanted a moment like this.

The vixen sat there speechless throughout the moment that seemed to last an eternity, the vulpine noticed her blushing and turned to look her in the eyes, a loud thump from a higher floor snapped them both to their senses. Fox thought about what he should do in this situation, he was almost positive one thing would help him. "Krystal, I'll be right back." He said and he quickly went up the stairs up to the main floor.

Krystal sighed and sat down on one of the chairs setup in the room, she stared at the targets moving back and forth that were left on, laughing at how fast they got if you never turned them off. She then saw Fox's bag and her curiosity kicked in, she wanted to see what the vulpine had gotten. She took a quick glance looking in the bag she saw a blaster inside of it, which must have been the reason for the vulpine to even go down there. She then sat back down and thought about what possibly could happen the next night, or possibly what could happen when the vulpine returned. She used her telepathy to find out what Fox was doing and she noticed he was talking with someone, she decided not to eavesdrop.

Fox was walking down the halls of the ship talking with Peppy, asking for advice on his situation. The hare had seen this coming but expected it to come sooner, but nonetheless this gave him more time to think of what he would say to him. "It's obvious you two were meant to be together" He said "I mean it wasn't just chance that you saved her and that she had gone there." The vulpine had thought of that before but just figured it was due to she would become extremely valuable to the team and not just him. "I'm just too nervous.." He went onto say knowing that if he had stepped up when he had the chance months ago they would've been together. "That's how your father was." He said laughing slightly "It will break soon, until then you should just let things go the way they do and not worry." The vulpine sighed thinking about the old hare's advice. Even though he didn't want to wait he knew that Peppy was right, he always was and gave the best advice to him no matter what the situation was. He practically raised him for some of his childhood and teenage years.

The vulpine noticed that he had been trapped in thought for atleast 5 minutes now and that the hare had left him, he quickly headed back down to go see Krystal again. He rushed down the stairs, almost tripping himself, he hadn't noticed how long he had left Krystal alone and dreaded her response. He finally made it down, out of breath and legs hurting from all the walking he had done that day. He looked around for her and finally saw her on the chair, she had fallen asleep. He smiled at her and pondered on whether he should wake her or let her sleep, she looked so peaceful.

After a few moments of thinking he decided he'd atleast get her to her room so he picked her up carefully trying not to wake her and started walking up the steps. Krystal woke up as the vulpine carried her up the stairs she acted as if she were asleep anyway, she kept one eye slightly opened looking at him and smiling slightly and closed it every time he looked down at her. He hadn't noticed.

He finally got her upstairs and laid her on the bed, he looked around the room he had hardly been in it but it seemed like what he would expect from her. "Night Fox." She said acting like she just woke up, the vulpine jumped. "Oh, sorry to wake you Krystal, night." He said nervously and walked out of the room and when the door shut he whispered "Love you.." he knew there was no way she could hear him but it made him feel slightly better.

_-Author's Note: Short chapter again liked writing it but i'm really tired, wanted this chapter to go longer but i want to get something out before tommorow. so i won't say much, thanks for reading and reviewing-_


	17. XVII Here We Go Again

XVII. Here We Go Again

When Fox finally got to his room he noticed how late it was "No wonder Krystal fell asleep" He said to himself and then plopped on his bed and tried to fall asleep but he couldn't, he was looking forward to the next day. After about an hour of thinking he finally fell asleep, it was 6 A.M.

Krystal woke up early the following day to find that Fox was still sleeping and snoring loudly, she sighed and then headed back into her room to finish the project that she had been working on for months now. But soon she was interrupted by several knocks on her door. "Krystal? you up?" The voice called in she knew it was Fox by the knocking. She quickly went to unlock her door.

Krystal opened the door and couldn't help but laugh, the vulpine hadn't looked in the mirror since he woke up. After she finished laughing he went onto say "I was wondering do you want to do something until tonight?" She smiled at him and said "Sure but go get yourself cleaned up first." And she giggled at him, he then left with a sigh to take a shower.

After his shower Fox put on some cologne and his regular pilot uniform and then went to knock on Krystal's door again. This time the door opened and Fox saw that she was doing something, she jumped back at the sound of the door opening and tried to hide her project from him.

"So, what's that?" The vulpine said chuckling as she hid it from him, he had no idea what it was be he guessed it was something she wasn't proud of. "Nothing really." She said stuffing it in the closet he laughed and decided to leave it at that. "So want to go hang out somewhere, I don't feel like doing much." The vulpine said after they had left her room, Krystal was shocked at what the vulpine said normally he would want to do some sort of training or flight maneuvers.

She noticed she had been so shocked from the comment that she hadn't responded to him for a few moments. "Sure, have any places in mind?" She said blushing and he could tell for once, he couldn't help but smile. "Yeah i have a good spot in mind." The vulpine walked with her down the hall to their ships, he then helped her get into hers and then got in his own and they both flew off to wherever he would lead them.

"Fox, where are we going? Corneria is that way." The vixen asked minutes later "I have another place in mind" He said as he led them towards a place she had been to way too much. The flight took an hour but it was worth it for Krystal's expression at the area. "Whoa, How did you find this spot?" She asked looking out at the area which was thick in forests it was on Sauria but in an area she had never seen before. "I found this while wandering around." He said "I haven't been here in a while so I thought it'd be nice to look around with you." She smiled and they both found a flat spot to land at.

The two wandered around through the forests, Fox thought that Krystal would think they were beautiful, and he was right. While walking side by side Krystal slowly inched her hand towards the vulpine's, just as they were about to touch she let her second thoughts get the best of her and pulled back. Fox smiled at her, he saw her hand so he decided he would make a move and he took hold of her hand and awaited her response. Krystal smiled at him for a few moments but then her nervousness got the best of her and she pulled back. _"Way to mess up and make things awkward"_ The vulpine thought to himself, she read his thoughts and patted his back trying to let him know it wasn't awkward, it was that she was so nervous.

About a half hour later they found what seemed to be a good place to sit so they did and spent the rest of their time talking. Just sitting and relaxing wasn't something the vulpine enjoyed much, before he met Krystal that is, for some reason he loved talking for hours without end about anything. "So Krystal, what was that in your room earlier?" He had to ask he was curious "It's nothing, really" She said trying to avoid the subject. "Is it something that Cerinian's do?" He went onto ask not stopping the questions "No.." She giggled slightly as he was way off. "Is it something for your Arwing?" "No" "Okay, umm... Is it something for your staff?" She laughed slightly at that "Close.." She said smiling at him knowing he would never guess. "Is it something for me?" She blushed "You'll have to find out, when's your birthday?" She asked he smiled they had never told each other their birthdays. "Couple of months." He said "Your's?" "Couple of months as well" She smiled at the coincidence. "What day?" He went onto ask "Twenty Eighth." She said with a smile "Ah I'm way off then mine's the second" He said slightly laughing, with how alike they were he expected them to have the same birthdays.

They went onto talking and before they knew it it was night time "So much for dinner" Fox said quietly "Yeah.." She responded their stomachs growling in hunger. Soon after Fox's PDA turned on Falco appeared on his communicator "Fox, Great Fox. NOW!" He ordered, he sighed. He checked another moment to make sure it was off and he kissed Krystal on the forehead "I really enjoyed today even without the dinner." He said before getting up and heading back to the Arwings in a hurry not knowing what would happen next, she sat there stunned that he actually kissed her and then noticed he was slowly fading away in the dark and quickly ran after him.

_-Author's Note: Another short chapter, didn't have much time to write tonight so sorry, hope you are enjoying, comment, review, help me become a better writer, thanks everybody.-_


	18. XVIII An Old Rival

XVIII. An Old Rival

The two quickly hopped in their Arwings after finding them and flew off of the planet and into space, heading directly towards The Great Fox.

Though they had flown off their conversation didn't end they kept talking, whether it was random jokes or about the way space looked as they flew by. All of a sudden Krystal turned around and she gasped, "Fox, who's that?" She asked. The vulpine turned his head trying to see what the vixen was talking about but couldn't see a thing. "I don't see anything Krystal.." He said looking back again to make sure but nothing was there, nothing at all.

"Fox it's right--" "Nice to see you again Fox.." A chilling evil voice said over Krystal's response. The vulpine's mind raced as he tried to find out who it was, before he could figure out the shooting had started luckily none hitting him. The vulpine did a series of somersaults and barrel rolls deflecting and avoiding the fire, he then saw the ship and knew it was his old rival, Wolf O'Donnel. Krystal followed the vulpine for a moment trying to focus so she could read his next move she had finally made it out of combat to focus, using her telepathy she told Fox what he was going to do next. "You've become a good pilot, but your new friend is just sitting there watching." He said trying to make it seem like he wasn't even good enough to get his own team to help him.

Fox shrugged off his comment knowing that he had the edge in this one and all of a sudden Krystal stopped communicating with him. "Krystal?" He said while still trying to avoid fire then out of the corner of his eye he saw that wolf had a teammate there as well and that her hands were busy too now.

Krystal tried to find out what her attacker was thinking of but every time she tried she had a chilling feeling, it sent chills down her spine. As Fox looked over he saw Krystal in trouble his mind suddenly dropped avoiding Wolf's fire and went directly to saving her, common sense settled in when his shields dropped drastically. The vulpine didn't care at that point as he watched on the screen as Krystal's shields went down more and more, he had to save her.

His engines were about to give out completely from the damage and how much he had used it to speed up trying to save the vixen. The vulpine finally caught up with the unknown second member which he saw then was Leon Powalski, a cold hearted lizard who had been in Star Wolf since it's beginning and was a rival to Falco. The vulpine got a lock on the lizard and hit him with a charged shot before doing a somersault and firing as much as possible with regular shots on Wolf's ship. Wolf deflected most of the shots by rolling and then did the same to Fox as he did the same thing rolling and then he locked on his ship with a charged shot, this one couldn't be deflected and he smiled in small victory as he saw Wolf's shield gauge on his screen go down 20%.

Leon however was still behind Krystal locking on her and shooting repetitively, her shields were almost gone and the vulpine was risking everything to keep her from being shot down, quickly changing from Wolf to Leon again and again. Fox had almost taken Leon down when he tried to switch and collided with Wolf, the impact tore off his left wing and did the same to the Wolfen's right wing. The vulpine struggled to keep the ship upright it was rolling from the lost wing, finally Fox got it under control and tried to head back to help Krystal. One of his lasers had been torn off so he was down to one which made things much more difficult for him however Wolf was out of the picture now.

Krystal cried out for Fox's help as her ship beeped due to her shields were too low, the lights started flashing as her power supply had almost been destroyed in the process, the thrusters were barely going at this point. When the vulpine heard Krystal calling for his help his heart almost stopped he saw her shields almost gone, he had to snap back to his senses fast to save her. He quickly got behind Leon again charging up a shot, it took longer to lock on him with the ship losing its balance every few seconds. He saw on his screen that he had a lock on Krystal and suddenly he pushed the thrusters as fast as they could go and he got in the gap between them taking the hit for her, everything went black for him for a moment as he felt the impact he felt a sharp pain and he was sure he was dead.

He sat there unable to see anything he suddenly heard something and his sight started coming back to him,"Are you alright?! Fox? Please say something!" is all he could hear and he looked around and could see Krystal chasing Leon this time, he sat there not saying anything trying to get back into it, as time went on he felt more pain, he had no clue what had happened to his ship.

"Yeah I'm okay...I think.." The vulpine said moments later "What happened?" He asked wondering how Krystal had been chasing Leon in the end. "Well you took a shot for me and it gave me enough time to get behind him, then he just flew off like the other." She said "Are you okay?" She sounded worried and for some reason he liked that. "Yeah I'll be okay.." He said looking around to try and see the damage on the Arwing. "Let's get back to The Great Fox, I'm sure they won't be happy were this late." She said and Fox tried to fly his Arwing, he finally got it going but it wouldn't go very fast. "This will take a while.." He said with a sigh. "Good more time for us to talk." She said laughing, he couldn't help but laugh too. The two flew back to The Great Fox, talking as they always did, but as time went on the vulpine's back started aching terribly.

The next day they finally made it back to The Great Fox, the vulpine was furious when he saw the damage to his ship. Both wings were torn off the back looked like it had been in a fire and it looked as if it were going to fall apart any moment now.

They walked into the main hall and went into the Bridge where the whole team was there waiting impatiently. "What took you two so long?" Peppy asked but Falco and Slippy were sure they knew what they were doing, even though they weren't even close to right. "Ran into Wolf" Fox said blandly popping his back and groaning in pain, "Slippy you'll have fun with this one.." He went onto say laughing slightly knowing that Slippy liked to fix challenging things but he knew this was over the top. "Well General Pepper called us in we need to do a search on Katina tommorow." Peppy went onto say _"Great.."_ Fox thought to himself wanting more time off even though they hadn't had much action.

"I'm going to go check and make sure nothings wrong with my back.." The vulpine said and quickly left, Krystal quickly followed him wanting to know who it was they just fought with.

Krystal barged into the vulpine's room finding him looking in a mirror at his back, her questions were held when she saw his bruised back. "Need help with anything?" She asked, he jumped, he never knew she was in his room. "I'm fine, this happens alot" He said smiling at her, it was hard not to smile around her for him. "So who were those two?" She asked, Fox expected her to ask sooner or later, "Wolf O'Donnel and Leon Powalski, Wolf is supposed to be my rival and his team is called Star Wolf, so we will see them alot probably." He said laughing slightly knowing that they barely beat him when they had their encounters. "So it's just two of them?" She asked smiling at him reading his thoughts without him noticing. "No they have two other members, Pigma and Andrew, but they are the two better members. Andrew is related to Andross." He went onto say the next part which was still hard for him to say, she never saw him act like this, she read his thoughts and feelings and felt a terrible sadness. "Pigma betrayed my father on Venom and that's why he died.." He said before sitting down unable to move, she did the only thing she could think of doing and she hugged him tight trying to help him.

Hours passed by and the two were laying together they had both fallen asleep, they had been up all night trying to fly back so they couldn't help but pass out.

_-Author's Note: Some action in this chapter for you guys, hope you're enjoying reading this, also on last chapter sorry about the terrible grammar errors i left in and didn't notice, fixed them when i noticed them so sorry if you read that and got confused.-_


	19. XIX Bottled Emotions

XIX. Bottled Emotions

"What's wrong, Fox?" Krystal asked him, they were both sitting at a table together alone in The Great Fox "it seems like something's on your mind.". He then noticed he had been staring in her eyes for what seemed to be ages and glanced away for a moment. "I'm- I'm fine." He said nervously, by the time he had finished saying that her hands were on his. The vulpine began to sweat and blush noticeably, smiling nervously at her which she returned back with a shy smile of her own. Soon they found themselves unable to control each other as they moved closer and closer until their lips met, Krystal quickly pulled back. "Fox, I love you." She said to him, he couldn't believe this was happening, he wanted to live in this moment forever. He was speechless so he decided to kiss her again, their lips were about to meet again.

The vulpine woke up, disappointed that his fantasy was only a dream he longed for it to become true but was too nervous to say anything himself. "I've got to stop dreaming of this stuff.." He said to himself quietly, he had dreamt of this and similar situations more than he could count and he didn't know how long he could keep himself sane without telling her. "Dreaming about what?" Krystal asked making the vulpine jump back, he never knew Krystal was there. "Krystal how did you, how long have you been in here?" He asked blushing wildly and hoping she had not used her powers to see his dreams. "I guess I slept in here, I'm sorry I was just so tired." He slightly smiled at her but was still worried about his dreams, how could he know if she saw them or not. "It's fine.." He said too nervous to say anything else before he let it slip out "Best night of sleep I've ever had." He blushed thinking to himself _"Did i really just.." _He continued to blush as she started to as well absorbing what the vulpine had said, she was even shocked and she was reading his thoughts too. "Is that a suggestion?" She asked smiling at him in a way she never had before, her blushing was visible now through her blue fur. She thought possibly this was the moment she was waiting for, for him to finally tell her all she wanted to hear, perhaps the vulpine had finally gotten over his nervousness.

Somehow the way she smiled combined with her blushing blew the vulpine away, he stared at her his mouth wide open, unable to word anything. She smiled a different way at him afterwords letting out a quiet sigh, what she expected hadn't happened but she was still slightly happy with the results, she knew she could really take his breath away if needed. She didn't want to harass the vulpine much more so she kissed him on the cheek and went for some food. The vulpine sighed as his cheek tingled "I was so close.." He said to himself putting his palm over his face groaning in disgust at his actions.

He went and got something to eat too, the rest of the team were sleeping. The vulpine noticed that it was 3 A.M. they had slept all day, he was usually uptight about his sleep schedule while off duty but this time he didn't really care he had bigger problems to solve. The two sat and talked, unable to do anything else, while trying to find anything interesting on TV.

Krystal soon fell asleep next to him again her head leaning on his shoulder, he couldn't help but smile and put his arm around her. What he didn't know was that he woke her moving his arm, but she was scared to let him know thinking he would get nervous and pull it back.

The vulpine's emotions were tearing him apart at this point, something about being so close to her drove him wild. He kissed her forehead without even thinking, he felt her clinch onto him tighter and it sent chills down his spine. She laid there comfortably for a few moments before finally asking him "Fox, do you love me?" She could feel him starting to sweat as he stumbled trying to say yes to her, but somehow it wouldn't come out. For some reason she loved how he acted nervous around her but she was almost fed up with not being with him when they could be. "Why are you so nervous about it? Is it Falco and the rest of them?" She went onto ask, she had gone from nervous to interrogator in less than 5 seconds. "We can keep it a secret and not do anything when we have a job to do.." She went onto say practically begging for the vulpine to give in. He was blushing as much as she had ever seen, his heart was racing and he began sweating. He moved away from her slightly. "I-I-I don't know Krystal I need some time to think.." He said trying to get off the subject, she could tell that she had ruined the situation of that moment and made things worse.

She backed off the subject, but the vulpine's thoughts were still on the earlier question, he wanted to answer so badly but he couldn't. He soon got up and left for his room to think. She tried to call him back but there was nothing to do to get him to come back at that moment he had to decide which would be the best thing to do, he couldn't hide from the question this time.

_-Author's Note: Short chapter, still wanted to add something romantic in tonight and also decided to add a spin to it as well. Thanks for reading and hope you're enjoying it!-_


	20. XX The Decision

XX. The Decision

Krystal sat there alone after she had ran the vulpine off, wishing that she never asked him her question. Fox sat there on his bed thinking to himself "_I've faced my fears before, why can't I just do this.." _He sighed and thought out how he would do this. He was scared that if he messed up it would ruin their friendship forever, he enjoyed what they had but he felt like he needed more than that too. The mix of him being nervous on her reactions and being afraid of what might happen kept the vulpine from telling her time and time again. He was determined to not let that happen this time, he was slightly embarrassed in himself that Krystal seemed to have more confidence than him too, this helped him make his decision.

He finally thought about how he would go about telling her, should he just say it or should he build conversation first. Soon doubts began creeping into the vulpine's mind and he got up, he knew if he didn't go now he might not do it. He left his room and walked down the hallway, he saw that Krystal wasn't in the main room, the vulpine sighed and headed back up the hall to her room. He knocked on her door and it opened, she had forgotten to lock it, He saw the vixen sound asleep on her bed. His determination to tell her now suddenly died out, she looked so peaceful, he crept out of the room trying not to make a sound stopping on the way out just to take a glance at the room, he had never been inside it.

The vulpine stood there for a few more moments gazing at her while she slept, he couldn't help himself, something about her took his breath away and this is why he needed to tell her. He left the room quietly, looking at the clock, it was still early and he wasn't tired at all. "What now..." He whispered to himself before doing the only thing he could think of, watching TV until somebody finally woke up.

The vulpine was browsing through channels before he found something that interested him, it was a documentary on Cerinia, Krystal's birthplace and old home. The vulpine was shocked at what he saw throughout the long film and was soon engrossed in it. Halfway through he noticed footsteps, he looked over towards the hallway and saw the vixen, the vulpine switched the channel quickly thinking Krystal would probably be reminded of terrible events if she saw her old planet.

"Hey Krystal." He said smiling at her, she rubbed her eyes and smiled back slightly walking over towards him and sitting down next to him. "I'm sorry about earlier Fox, I just--" She got cutoff by the vulpine who had kissed her already. "It's fine, I really do love you but I'm just scared I'll ruin what we have as friends."

He could hear the vixen make a gasp as he said that she was obviously shocked, she sat there dumbfounded but happy, suddenly she thought about what this could do to him and his leading. "Fox, I don't think were ready for anything too serious though. I think we should just be friends for a little bit longer." She muttered hoping she didn't hurt the vulpine's feelings after putting him through this. The vulpine sighed in relief "I don't want anything too serious either Krystal, I'm still nervous but I'd like to spend more time with you." She smiled obviously getting the perfect response and then hugged the fox tightly not letting go. "By the way lets keep this between you and me." The vulpine said while the vixen held onto him tight. She just giggled slightly at him and then kissed him on the cheek, she couldn't be happier at that moment.

The vulpine held Krystal and watched as the clock moved from 5 AM to 6 AM then to 6:45, he suddenly noticed that their time alone was coming to an end he hoped moments like this happened more often now that he had admitted his feelings. Even though they had agreed to stay just friends for the time-being he knew that they acted like a couple, but he enjoyed every second of woke when the vulpine tried to get up, he knew the team would be up in just ten minutes now and didn't want them to see them both like that.

The vulpine noticed his stomach growling and went into the kitchen to grab whatever looked edible. The vulpine grabbed a bagel from the cabinet and quickly left, looking at the clock he knew everyone would stampede there in about 2 minutes. He then went back into the main room stuffing down his bagel and resumed watching the documentary on Cerinia, he had recorded it for later.

He kept watching until someone else entered the room and turned the channel quickly, Falco walked over to the chair he normally sat in, slightly laughing at the vulpine for some reason. The vulpine felt around at his fur making sure it wasn't in a mess but that wasn't the issue, after trying to think of what he was laughing at he asked "What's so funny?" in a slightly annoyed tone. "Nothing Fox, just something funny Slip told me." The bird kept on laughing afterwards, frustrating the vulpine which only made him laugh harder.

Slippy finally got into the room and sat down, by the time he got there Falco had tears in his eyes from laughing so hard. "So Slippy what's Falco dying from over here?" Fox asked slightly calmer than when he asked Falco. "Nothing, we just saw you and Krystal sleeping together in your bed last night." The frog said snickering now as well. The vulpine blushed to the point it looked like he'd erupt. The laughing only continued, he finally got up and left hoping it would pass before their mission. Krystal too was harassed by Falco and Slippy, she just ignored it and went into her room to work on her project for Fox.

Hours later the crew had flown to Katina again to search for anything suspicious. They walked the streets for hours looking for anything almost looking like patrols before something finally happened. There was a hold up in the bank, The team quickly ended their operation, they were armed with nothing other than fake guns. The vulpine seemed to be in a fog during the mission, hardly doing what he normally did on duty, Krystal noticed and felt like it was her fault for it, seeing as it was their earlier conversation that hung on his mind. They left Katina without finding anything else, a quick mission and a dull one for the team. As soon as they got back to The Great Fox Falco ran down to the training room to fire his blaster at targets, he needed some kind of action. Slippy went out into the hangar to work on the Arwings and continued his work on the new Landmaster tank leaving Fox and Krystal alone.

The two enjoyed each others company even though they didn't have much to say, they both found random things on TV to watch, hoping something would spark.

The two found themselves spending time with each other for hours before Fox finally felt so tired he passed out sitting in his chair, she didn't notice until an hour later and decided that she would go to bed as well.

_-Author's Note: Short chapter took a couple days of a break, nothing much to say but thanks for reading this story hope you're enjoying it and all the usual.-_


	21. XXI A Bad Night

XXI. A Bad Night

Fox woke up in the middle of the night, obviously uncomfortable sleeping in the chair, and got up leaving for his bed, looking at the clock on his way. As he stepped into the hallway he could hear the usual nightly sound of Peppy's snoring loudly. Everyone got used to his after a while and whenever the hare hadn't snored they had to check if he was still alive. The vulpine smiled thinking of his memories of the way the day went as he got into his bed, he was happier ever since he told Krystal what he felt.

Suddenly his mind raced on how good the team would be the next time the Lylat System faced destruction now that they had a telepath, new ships and a new member they would be unstoppable, atleast he thought. He suddenly heard a weird noise that broke his thoughts and it was not one he had heard before. He got up and raced out in the hall to see who or what made the noise and suddenly heard whimpering from Krystal. His mind raced he thought the worst, Noone had ever gotten into the ship undetected before but that was his first thought, he grabbed his blaster and ran towards the whimpering noise.

He ran up to the bridge and saw Krystal on the floor, but nothing else. "Krystal?" the vulpine said hoping that she would answer him but she didn't she only whimpered laying down motionless. He looked around a little more making sure nobody would pop out on him then he approached her slowly, he had no idea what was wrong with her.

"Krys?.."He said gently rolling her over to face him, he jumped back as soon as he did, her eyes had turned blue and were glowing. There was no way the vulpine could've expected this and had no idea what was going on, he had never heard of anyone's eyes glowing except when they held a Krazoa Spirit, but this was not the case, it was an entirely different color. "Krystal say something! Anything." He begged for her to respond shaking her gently scared to hurt her, he noticed that she was burning hot with atleast a 100 degree temperature. He was on the verge of getting someone to help him when she grabbed his arm moaning slightly and he noticed the glowing of her eyes dimming. He smiled slightly at her hoping the situation was over but noticed her temperature was still very high.

He picked her up and carried her into the main room, laying her on the couch and sitting there trying to help her in any way possible. Moments later her eyes went back to normal bringing a smile of relief to his face, but her temperature remained. "F-Fox?" She said barely able to talk, it was the first thing she had said to him in this whole ordeal. "Yeah?" He smiled at her glad to see that she was getting better,"Thanks..I'm sorry for being a hassle" She said quietly to him making him slightly blush, "It's okay, I'll always be there for you." Fox said, making Krystal smile even though she obviously had a right not to. The two were silent for a while, Fox constantly checked Krystal's temperature by feeling her forehead, he wanted to ask what happened but decided that he should wait.

Krystal quickly drifted off to sleep while Fox checked on her constantly, fighting off sleep the best he could until he couldn't resist it any longer. He picked up Krystal and took her to her room, walking in he suddenly noticed it was extremely warm in there, he sighed knowing it wouldn't be good for her in there with a temperature. The vulpine carried her to his room and put her on the bed, he knew it would be better, he had a personal air conditioner in his room. He then made his way back out into the main room and slept on the couch while Krystal slept in his bed, he would do anything for her and didn't hesitate to do so. The vulpine smiled and quickly drifted into a deep sleep.

The next morning the vulpine was awakened earlier than he had wanted by everyone flooding into the room. He took a beating from his teammates' jokes about him letting Krystal take his bed for the night but he shrugged it off as usual. Fox got into his Arwing and flew around for a little while, trying to pass time, he was curious about what was wrong with Krystal.

Hours passed before Krystal finally woke up, by the time the vulpine finally saw her she looked pathetic almost like she was still sick at the time. He decided to hold his questions for another time, hoping that she would be okay. The vulpine sat in boredom wishing there was something to do at this point, he hated watching TV by this point and needed something else to do.

Suddenly he heard a faint noise before R.O.B went on the intercom "Enemy ships in area!" Which made Fox slightly smile, it would be some fun for him. The team rushed to their leader awaiting their orders for the situation, Krystal was the last one there and Fox knew she should sit this one out. "Slippy Falco go to your Arwings, Krystal wait here a minute. I'll be with you two shortly." He said almost like a teacher would, Falco and Slippy laughed slightly at the fact that the vulpine pulled Krystal aside like any time they said anything about being with each other.

"Krystal I don't think you're in any condition to fight today" He said putting his hand on her shoulder, feeling that she was still hot from a temperature immediately. She smiled slightly "I'll be okay. I do--" She was interrupted by the vulpine who wouldn't have her go out into battle like this. "Just wait here Krystal, get some rest, you need it." This made her sigh, she seemed angry and was about to leave when the vulpine grabbed her and pulled her back. Wanting to let her know that he was doing this out of love. "I just don't want you getting any worse, you'll only miss this one battle that's all." She slightly smiled at him and said "Please be careful" he couldn't help but blush at her and he rushed down to the Arwings to meet up with the rest of the crew.

The team was met as soon as they launched by two familiar faces, Leon and Wolf. "We figured we'd have some fun when we saw your ship" Was the lizard's excuse, his cold voice still sent slight chills down everyone's spine. As Leon talked Wolf took his chance and delivered the first blow shooting Slippy's Arwing and already severely damaging it, "We've upgraded our fire power since last time." Wolf laughed as he chased Slippy, Leon chased Falco, his favorite target and the vulpine tried to save the two. Flying almost as fast as possible, the Arwings had a slight advantage on speed but the Wolfens made up for that in firepower. It only took 1 more shot to Slippy's ship to put him out of action, "I can't take any more or I'm toast!" Was the last thing he said before leaving back to The Great Fox, barely making it.

Wolf soon dropped off the frog and went straight for Fox, leaving Falco to defend himself. _"Man Krystal helps alot.."_Fox thought remembering how easy it was when he had a telepath helping him, but they'd have to go without her help for this round. Falco soon used his expert flying skills to shake Leon off for a split second leaving him with enough time to slow Wolf down slightly. Wolf was startled when his ship started beeping that he was locked on but by then it was too late his left wing had been clipped off, making his Wolfen spin for a second before he regained control. By the time Falco had gotten off his shot he had taken one from Leon and his engine started smoking, "Fox! My engines smoking! After only one hit!" Falco yelled making the lizard chuckle. Fox had almost gotten a shot off on Wolf when he saw Falco's ship severely damaged, he pulled off and went chasing after Leon.

Falco's engine looked like it would blow any minute from the pressure Falco was putting it in while damaged but he had no choice, Leon was still hot on his tail. Soon Fox finally caught up and locked onto Leon quickly and got off a charged shot before firing as fast as possible at the lizard. In the vulpine's recklessness he took Leon down and also shot Falco a few times accidentally putting Falco out of action too. It was down to Wolf and Fox now, Fox had a slight advantage in shields but he couldn't slack any in this situation.

It seemed like it had been hours as the two flew trying to get a shot off on one another while trying to avoid each others' fire. Fox's mind slipped for a brief second and he was hit by the Wolfen's powerful laser almost destroying his ship in one hit and putting it in critical condition. Normally when your shields went this low you fled from battle, if you took one more hit at this point you were dead. The vulpine had never fled from battle and he wasn't planning on fleeing from this one, his cockpit flashed a red warning light, warning him that his shields were almost gone any hit now would be fatal.

The vulpine fought his fear of dying and pulled off a tight somersault putting him right behind Wolf, He fired a shot on the Wolfen and put Wolf's shields down as far as his were. The team inside The Great Fox were watching the shield gauges and shaking although Falco would never admit it, they had never been through anything this close before. Wolf suddenly did a somersault putting him right behind Fox and then he shot at him, thankfully the vulpine deflected the shot by rolling at the last second.

Soon Fox could hear Krystal's voice "Fox, please just come back. This isn't worth dying for." She begged him but he shrugged it off knowing he would never live it down if he fled from Wolf especially one on one.

Another hour passed and they still were avoiding each other's fire, Fox knew he could win if he just held out now, the Wolfen was almost out of fuel thankfully Fox had just launched versus Wolf who had been flying across the Lylat System. Fox heard Krystal's voice again in his head begging him to come back, she sounded even more worried than before. The vulpine wondered if she could talk to him why she couldn't help him out in this situation, trapped in thought his ship jolted he looked up and his wing was clipped off from small debris floating out in space. Thankfully it hit the wing, if it hit the nose he would've been destroyed. He couldn't make another mistake at this point, even a slight one would be tragic. Suddenly he looked back and the Wolfen's engine was sputtering, he smiled in victory as the Wolfen came to a sudden halt followed by Wolf's cursing. The team cheered in victory on the ship, even though he had a poor performance Fox would come back the hero of the day. He flew back to The Great Fox smiling even though it wasn't a true victory, when you're that close to death all you want to do is come back home.

As soon as the vulpine landed Krystal was waiting for him and quickly embraced him in a hug, one that seemed like she would never let go of him. She either felt better or being trapped in his cockpit for hours made him used to warm temperatures as she didn't feel like she was running a temperature anymore. Falco and Slippy laughed at the two for hugging for a good minute. Fox hadn't realized they were there and quickly jumped away from Krystal blushing, Falco and Slippy left the two alone feeling they had annoyed them enough for now. The two sat out in the docking bay peacefully, Fox couldn't help but smile each time he looked down at the Arwing he was sitting on knowing that he shouldn't even be there after such a close battle.

Atleast a half and hour passed before Fox decided he should ask her. "Krystal, what happened to you last night?" He didn't even hide it he wanted to know why the vixen's eyes were glowing and why she was in the bridge of the ship. "I don't know, I was having a weird dream and i woke up with the worst headache." He sighed at her, it wasn't the answer he was hoping for. "I'll be okay though, I feel fine now so no need to worry." She went onto finish but he knew this was much more severe than a simple headache. "Krystal... Your eyes were glowing, this isn't something simple.." He said obviously worried, trying to word it out the best way possible to her, it even scared her too but she wouldn't admit it and make it worse for him. "Krystal, I'm sorry I have to do something" He stated before jumping off the Arwing he was sitting on and heading back into the ship to try and look up what caused her issue the previous night.

_-Author's Note: Longer chapter, was fun to write but took me a couple days to build it up perfectly, sorry about my couple days of inactivity, hope this was worth the wait. Thanks for reading and your reviews etc. You all make the work all worth it!-_


	22. XXII What's Wrong With Krystal?

XXII. What's Wrong With Krystal?

Fox searched all night trying to find something that would explain why Krystal had such strange problems the previous night, no matter how much he searched he couldn't find anyone with a symptom like her glowing eyes. Something was up and the vulpine needed to know why, he couldn't afford to have Krystal hurt or even lose her. His only solution was to make her see a doctor which he was sure that any doctor would think they were crazy for the strange symptom, then he remembered the cameras on the ship and scanned through them trying to see if he could get a clear image of her eyes. The vulpine fast forwarded for what seemed to be an hour before finally seeing Krystal on the screen, he slightly cringed at the sight of her eyes and hoped that somebody could cure whatever caused this.

He finally left his room to find Krystal, he then noticed how long he had been searching for any answer, it was too late for anyone to be up. He turned around and headed back into his room before he heard the same sound he heard the previous night, Krystal's whimpering. He turned and ran towards the sound which lead him to her room, he didn't bother knocking he expected the same as last night. The door opened and he noticed Krystal wasn't sick, she was crying over something and laying in her bed, until she jumped up from the vulpine's intrusion. "F-Fox? What are you doing?" She said sounding slightly embarrassed. "Krystal, I'm sorry. I just heard a noise from here and wanted to make sure you were okay." She couldn't help but smile slightly that the vulpine cared for her but she knew he couldn't help her. The vulpine blushed slightly realizing that he just intruded into her room, although she could've locked her door, it could have ended worse.

The vulpine sat down on her bed moving closer, making her legs slightly tremble from nervousness. "What's Wrong?" He asked sounding as sympathetic as she had heard him before, he sounded so sympathetic that it made her want to tell him. Sadly she couldn't tell him what was bothering her, she was afraid of his reaction, she stayed silent for a few seconds but this only made him impatient. "Is it something I did?" He asked in the same voice and put his hand on her back making it harder for her to keep quiet. She shook her head no, only making the vulpine guess again. "Was it your dream last night?" She teared up when he said it, she hadn't expected him to guess it right, but he always did. He knew he got it right now and couldn't help but ask he couldn't help her if he didn't know what was bothering her "What did you dream anyway's?" Her stomach sank and she wished he hadn't asked she stayed silent and felt like she was choking slightly.

The vulpine knew he hit a soft spot there"You don't need to tell me if you don't want to, I just want you to feel better." Him saying that made something come over the vixen and before he could react she had her head on his shoulder and her tears fell freely. The vulpine sat dumbfounded for a moment before putting his arms around her and patting her back, he knew that if he was going to say some of the things he wanted to now would be the perfect time. "Krystal it's okay I'm here." As soon as he said it he had regret it, even though it helped her he knew he could've done better than that.

Krystal felt his arms shake slightly and Fox took a deep breath before saying "Krystal, I'll always be here for you. You're my best friend and nothing could replace you." His heart was pounding he couldn't believe what he just said, even though it came out differently than he had planned he still was shocked at what he told her the silence didn't help him either. For a minute you could hear a pen if it dropped, it was dead quiet other than their breathing, he was regretting saying anything Krystal finally broke the silence whispering in his ear "Fox, could you say that again?" The vulpine knew he had messed up at that point. "Nothing just forget it.." He muttered he knew that he ruined the moment. "No I'm serious I want to hear what you said again.." He lost contact with reality for a few moments after she said that, Krystal sighed at him snapping him back into reality. "Well..Krystal, I'll always be here for you. Nothing could replace you." He wasn't sure why but it made her the happiest person in the world when she heard it from him and it made him pretty close just saying it. He just sat there almost like he couldn't move, he must have been sitting there for 15 minutes without moving before Krystal fell asleep on his shoulder. He laid her gently on the bed and sighed looking at her _"How am I so lucky.."_ He thought to himself looking down at the one thing he's ever wanted badly and knowing he was close to getting it. He left her room quietly, sighing as he could still smell her perfume, he had always loved it.

As soon as he entered his room he saw the picture of her from the other night and reality struck the vulpine once more and he went on his computer and tried to find a doctor that might fit their situation. Finally after searching he found someone that might be able to help them, he wrote down their address and headed off for bed. It didn't take long for the vulpine to get to sleep considering how late it was, the last thing he thought of was the image of Krystal sleeping he loved the way she seemed so peaceful.


	23. XXIII More Strange Behavior

XXIII. More Strange Behavior

Krystal woke up the following morning, holding a pillow like she had been holding Fox before she fell asleep. For some reason the vixen didn't want to move, thinking of the memories from the night before. She heard a knock on the door and said "Come in" without moving an inch she knew it wouldn't be anyone other than Fox. She looked over at the vulpine and then the clock seeing that it was already late in the day _"How did I sleep so late.."_ She thought to herself before being broken from her thoughts by the shaking of Fox sitting on the bed, followed by his voice which always made her smile.

"Krystal I found someone you might want to see about this.." She sat up and giggled slightly at the fact that he blushed slightly seeing that she hadn't gotten up yet and he was in there with her "I'll be fine Fox, It's proba--" "Krystal I'm worried about you." He interrupted her placing his hand on her shoulder making, his words and thoughts at that time made her happy that she was so important to him, she agreed to see whoever he found. She ended their conversation by kissing him on the cheek making him blush slightly. She could tell he was feeling slightly awkward that he had gone in when she was still in bed and her kiss eased his tension but his nervousness overcame him and soon he left the room earlier than Krystal had wanted.

Krystal got up fixed her hair and went down to the simulation room where she could sense multiple brainwaves and knew that's where everyone was. She walked down the steps and found Peppy and Fox standing and looking at something, she quickly walked beside Fox and looked out in shock and awe. The simulation area had taken the resemblance of a Fortuna base which Falco and Slippy were fighting on, she had never seen the room used like this and was amazed at how their technology had changed since she first boarded the ship. She could catch Fox's attention slowly going from the battle to her, she smiled and let out a quiet giggle making the vulpine blush and turn to face the other way.

To everyone's amazement the frog was beating the avian on ground combat and the game was quickly ending, Falco had one life left while Slippy had three. Slippy soon tripped and fell giving Falco a kill, Fox was hoping that Slippy would have a win on the avian for once but he always seemed to mess up for the ending.

As the Star Fox team was enjoying themselves Wolf was still floating out in empty space, waiting on Leon to bring him more fuel cells. The conversation between the two was not pretty at all, his boredom fueled his hatred of the vulpine. The time thinking made him know that he would never defeat Fox being outnumbered "Leon, I think we should recruit a new member and then give Star Fox a run for their money.." The Wolf knew how to get to the vulpine now too seeing how desperate he was to save Krystal in their first encounter, his ego grew sky high knowing that next time he fought Star Fox he would win.

Back onboard The Great Fox Slippy and Falco continued their battle Slippy had cornered Falco but before he could shoot the avian kicked out his legs tripping him and stumbled back to his blaster. The avian noticed by the time he got up Slippy was up so he ran for cover, Krystal was so engrossed in the action she hadn't noticed the vulpine's arm slowly moving around her, he didn't even notice it. Peppy was the only one who did notice and he smiled feeling happy for the two and remembering times in his past bringing back memories.

Falco cornered Slippy this time, the toad tried to use the move the avian had used on him but it was too late, Slippy lost another life and respawned on the other side of the room. They were both on their last life but the vulpine didn't think they were pressured enough on just each other "Okay guys now I'm enabling targets you have to destroy too. If you destroy half the targets you get an extra life." Fox said flipping a switch making targets appear some friendly and some enemies to make them look before shooting. A battle to fight each other soon became a race for the targets while dodging fire from one another, a far more interesting fight for Fox. Falco tried to do too much and he shot one of the friendly targets making a sound blare through the room followed by his furious squawking. He shrugged it off and continued to shoot at Slippy who had almost destroyed half the targets.

Slippy saw his chance while the avian focused more on the targets and with one shot he hit Falco in the chest and the simulation ended suddenly. For the first time the sign read that Slippy had won. The avian just sat there obviously embarrassed by his loss and threw his simulation blaster across the room, he couldn't believe he lost. Slippy danced in celebration, looking slightly like he had practiced for this moment, and walked into the room with Krystal, Fox and Peppy.

Krystal looked over at Fox smiling and said "Think you can take me on?" The vulpine looked at her obviously surprised she would want to fight him, even though it was a simulation, he knew he couldn't do most of the things he did in combat in fear of hurting her but he agreed and the two set up for their "Battle".

Fox let Krystal decide which map she wanted the simulation to be on and he wasn't surprised to see that she had chosen Sauria seeing their history there. Slippy and Falco didn't stick around to see Fox and Krystal's battle knowing that the vulpine would go way too easy on her, leaving Peppy alone to watch the couple and to study Krystal's combat techniques he had never seen yet.

Hours passed and not much had happened most of the time spent was avoiding each other in search for the perfect sneak attack, the battle was much more tactical than Slippy and Falco's. The two finally ran into each other, Fox slipped and dropped his blaster. The vulpine would usually kick out his opponents legs in this situation or charge at them to catch them off-guard, he wouldn't even think about doing it to Krystal though and she got the easy kill.

Fox yawned, he was getting tired from not getting much sleep the previous night but he pushed on to continue this battle before he passed out. He got behind a tree and waited for the vixen to come looking for him so he could surprise her. He looked at the clock on his PDA seeing that a half hour had passed and he hadn't seen or heard from Krystal. He began to slightly worry if they would end before the next morning, he sat there looking at his PDA 15 minutes passed so he decided he'd try looking for the vixen.

He walked across a pathway between two temples searching for Krystal in every corner, he couldn't find her anywhere until he heard a loud noise and by then it was too late. Before he knew it he was down on the ground, the vixen pounced on the vulpine, making him pay for walking in her trap. Fox looked up at her slightly smiling, glad to see she was okay. He sat there as time passed and noticed Krystal still hadn't shot, confused he turned around and saw her just staring at him. He was even more confused when he turned to look at her, when he turned almost immediately her lips met his. His confusion was still there but it didn't matter at this point, his instincts took control.

Before the vulpine knew it the moment was over, the vixen slumped off of him to the side laying there motionless, she was questioning what came over her to actually do that. He laid there unable to move an inch his whole body tingled for some reason, in shock from the situation or maybe it was just the effect she had on him.

Soon the vulpine's mind raced into reality. _"What if Falco or Slippy saw that... Oh whatever I'll shrug it off I guess I have before.. Plus it's worth it I me--" _"Fox calm down!" The vixen said, breaking his line of thought and then he realized she was reading his thoughts and laughed slightly blushing slightly. "Noone saw it, that's why I did it" She continued on and he couldn't help but smile. The vulpine muttered the first thing he had actually said to her in hours "I'll let you win this round. I'm getting tired."

He finally mustered up the strength to get up and helped the vixen up too and they walked out of the simulation room, Krystal still marveled at the scenery that the simulation gave it looked almost real. They walked into the control room for the simulation and saw Peppy sleeping, Fox turned the system off and walked with Krystal up the steps to the hallway where both of their rooms were. Outside of her room they stopped Krystal quickly pecked him on the cheek and watched his face fluster, she always liked that. "Goodnight Fox" She said and her smile seemed to glow to him he stared for a moment before saying "Oh, uhm- Goodnight Krys-" He was cutoff by the door closing but he knew she heard enough to know the rest.

The vulpine stumbled back into his room, the effect she had on him was amazing to him. If it wasn't obvious before the previous two nights she definitely knew that he loved her.

The vulpine got into his sleeping clothes, which were just boxers and a shirt, and plopped into his bed, quickly falling asleep.

Hours later the vulpine was awakened by strange noises, he was tired and didn't want to get up but he knew he had to. _"Not again.."_ He thought to himself while getting out of bed and opening the door. Entering the hallway he saw Falco who was going to find out what the noise was. "Falco I'll handle it." He whispered, much to the avian's delight he got to get back to sleep. This time the sounds he heard were different but he recognized the voice as Krystal. As he got closer and closer he could hear that she was murmuring, it sounded like she was calling for him.

He turned the corner once again seeing Krystal lying on the floor, her eyes were glowing like the last time. "Krystal? Can you hear me?" The vulpine said running over to her, her response was a low moan, sounding like she was in pain, followed by muttering "Fox?" He was hoping she could understand him "What can I do to help you?" He asked but she just let out a louder moan and he knew she couldn't hear him then. He felt her temperature and instead of it being extremely high this time she felt like ice to his hand, the vulpine didn't know what he could do to help her at this point and just pulled her closer hoping it would help her get warmer.

The glow in her eyes died down slowly while the vulpine tried to warm her with his body heat. He started thinking on the other ways he could warm her but this one was almost too enjoyable for him and seemed to work just as well. She turned to face him, shocked to see him there as her eyes started returning to their normal color. "F-F-Fox? What happened? Where am I?" She asked in a quiet voice and was obviously slightly flustered. She shivered uncontrollably beside him and scooted beside him so close there was no space in between them now. "Did you have another weird dream?" He asked her trying to find out if there was a pattern, his question made her blush slightly and he smiled at her knowing the answer already. "It's okay you don't have to talk about it." He said comforting her but she tried reading his mind but she was just too tired at the time, she smiled back at him. Fox sat up next to Krystal waiting for her to regain her strength to walk, but the vixen couldn't, she fell asleep right there.

The vulpine looked out the windowed walls of the floor before sighing and he attempted to pick the freezing vixen up himself. His strength was diminished as well when he tried to pick her up he only fell to the floor. Despite his strength he didn't have enough energy to do much, plus he wasn't conditioned like he was after the Saurian adventures. The vulpine looked out into space, he knew if he looked for too long he would fall asleep. The vixen moved closer to the vulpine, even though she was asleep she still seemed to know he was there. This put the vulpine into somewhat of a trance and he fell asleep on the floor next to Krystal.

_-Author's Note: I've been inactive for a couple of days on writing due to I wanted to combine these two chapters together, hope you enjoy this addition it's basically just the build on Fox + Krystal for this chapter, more action to come very soon. Thanks for reading and reviews! -_


	24. XXIV Another Trip

XXIV. Another Trip.

The vulpine woke up the next morning from the bright light in the windowed walls from the planet Solar, he sighed and eventually made it up to his feet waking the vixen as well. "What happened to me last night?" She asked him making him sigh, knowing he didn't want to explain what had happened. "Well...Uhm.. You had another bad night.. Don't you remember?" After he asked she looked at him weirdly, answering his question without saying a word. The vulpine helped her to her feet and headed to his room, he knew Krystal needed to see a doctor and now. The vixen took her own path and went back to her bed and slept to get back the lost hours.

When she woke up she was practically assaulted by the vulpine. "Krystal I got you an appointment tommorow if you want to go." He said with a childlike smile trying to get her to agree to go. "I can also book you a hotel room if you'd like to take a day off." He offered, she blushed and was flattered at his offer. He knew she would like to, she had never really been on Corneria before and was sure she would love to look around the city. "That'd be nice" She said almost breathless from the vulpine's offers.

She packed all of the necessities and went to Fox to find out where she was even going to. The vulpine handed her a map "If you need anything just use your communicator and I'll be right there." He said smiling at her. She quickly pecked him on the cheek and headed out to her Arwing. On her way she started getting second thoughts about leaving Fox, even for a day, but she kept going.

Fox decided while the vixen was gone he would do what he used to, he grabbed his laptop and went to look at the Star Fox website that Slippy had made for them. The site wasn't anything too special it's just where people could go and see the team members, pictures from their travels and even limited statistics of the Arwings. The vulpine hadn't updated any of his info in atleast a year, his blog was the last thing he updated a day before going to Sauria for the first time. He decided he would add something now for anyone who would even bother to look at his updates after so long.

The vulpine had started to write about Krystal and before he knew it he had written a full paragraph about her. It hadn't been 5 minutes since she left and he already missed her and it showed, rereading his paragraph he saw what he had wrote about her without thinking. He had written that she was a beautiful blue furred vixen from Cerinia and had joined the team and had telepathic powers and was a huge boost to the team. He started deleting the Beautiful out of it when he heard Krystal's voice. "Fox?" He heard but didn't turn around, _"Im hearing her now too, only after 5 minutes. How could i have become so obsesse--" _"FOX!" She yelled at him making him know she was really there. He jumped back hiding the laptop so she couldn't see what he had written "Why are you back so soon?" She blushed when he asked and he could tell her blushing even with her blue fur. "I was thinking and..." She tried to word it out "Well... I thought it'd be nice if you came with me tommorow since you've been the witness to these strange issues.." He chuckled at her. "Well I guess I could meet you there tommorow if you'd like." She sighed obviously not liking the answer she got. "Well Fox...I kinda want to know if you just want to come with me and show me around the city..." The vulpine smiled at her blushing, getting the hint there. "Well Krystal... I only booked one room..." He smiled at her hoping she would still bring him "Well we've slept beside each other before so what's the big deal?" She asked him making him blush wildly. "I'd love to go with you then." He put his laptop up and went towards his room to pack up "Just give me like three minutes.." He said and ran down the hallway.

Krystal saw him hide his laptop which only reinforced her curiosity and went over to look at whatever the vulpine was doing. She just saw what the vulpine had wrote about her, he luckily deleted all of the parts he would like to hide. The vixen wasn't too bad with computers though after a year of training on them and she knew that the vulpine had deleted something or closed something. She quickly undid his word just to reveal what he had really written about her and what he really felt about her appearance. She had heard it before but each time she heard (or read it) it somehow meant the world to her.

The vulpine came back ready to go with a small bag in his hand that contained a pair of clothes for the next day and nothing more, he saw the vixen giggling slightly almost like a child that had broken a rule and he knew something was up. "Krystal...What did you do?" He asked and she couldn't hold back her laughter, she was amazed on how the vulpine could read her usually, even when it wasn't so obvious, she wondered who really had telepathy. "I just read what you wrote.." He blushed knowing what she had really done but shrugged it off easily "Okay, lets go." He said smiling at her and they both walked down the hall to the hangar.

The flight there wasn't quick for the two they were focusing on each other more than where they were flying, they were lost in conversation orbiting Corneria. Eventually the two made it to a place they could land. The crowd quickly swarmed the vulpine and vixen, amazing her at how fast they could find the vulpine. The vixen couldn't hear half of the things the vulpine said while in the crowd but she could hear one thing "Come on let's get out of here." The vulpine grabbed her by the shoulder pulling her away from the massive crowd that had swarmed. The two finally got a cab which would drive them to their hotel and Fox finally got to relax, even if it were only for a few moments.

"People really love you don't they?" She asked him laughing slightly at the vulpine's cruel welcome, the crowd of reporters had tried pulling him or even twisting him over to them. "Yeah it's ridiculous." He said sounding slightly annoyed, she dropped that conversation there, sensing he hated the popularity. She was amused by the lights of the big city while they rode to their hotel, the vulpine sat in silence gazing upon the vixen instead of the lights.

The two finally got to the hotel which seemed deserted, the vulpine wondered why until he saw his watch (He had worn his casual watch instead of the wrist PDA he used in battle) It was almost midnight and they had barely made it in time to check into their room. At the front desk was a female cat with grey fur "We have a room under McCloud." The vulpine said flatly. "Alright let me see some I.D." She said before looking down to see his I.D. already on the desk. "You two on your honeymoon?" She asked making them both blush "H-h-honeymoon?" He asked before the vixen covered for him "No, we're just good friends." She giggled at the vulpine's reactions in silence finding it cute in a way.

"You two enjoy!" She yelled at them making the vulpine blush even more, Krystal thought if any more blood rushed to his face he would surely pass out. The two continued to the elevator and went up to the fourth floor where there room was. "434...435...436.. Here we are 437." The vulpine said as they made way to their room. As soon as the door opened the vixen quickly plopped into their bed turning on the TV. The vulpine quickly followed after looking around at their home for a night.

The two enjoyed themselves and their moments of being alone before the vixen quickly fell asleep next to the vulpine, her warm body seemed to be like a heater next to him. His new "heater" seemed to work extremely well and it made him slowly drift off to sleep. He wasn't looking forward to tommorow.


	25. XXV Visions

XXV. Visions

The vulpine fell asleep and quickly was taken in by a dream he had never had before, the surrounding area that he could see was lush forests and cliffs further out it looked like Sauria. He then saw Krystal looking at him, something was obviously bothering her as tears started streaming down her face. The vulpine then felt a sharp pain in his chest and the world seemed to spiral out of control for a few moments, the pain in his chest kept on making him think it was really happening. The vulpine crashed to the ground, feeling the breath knock out of him on impact. He lay there unable to move, gasping for breath. Without thinking he groaned out and barely could say "Krystal..." he was gasping for breath still "Run!". She didn't run she only kneeled beside him, he looked down and saw what the pain in his chest was, he had been wounded somehow and the pain was excruciating. She still staid by the vulpine's side grasping his hand tightly, he wanted to push her away so she could run away but he knew that she wouldn't leave him at this point. "Fox..." Was all she could word out, her voice breaking from the crying "Y-you can't die... I love you." Was all she said, making him want to fight it but he knew he wouldn't make it. He looked up and saw a familiar figure coming towards them.

"Fox!" "Fox!!" "Say something." The vulpine woke up lying there breathing heavy. "Are you okay?" She asked him even though it was obvious he wasn't. He just sat there getting back intact with the world, noticing that he was extremely warm and the vixens arms were around him, making it hard for him to believe this wasn't a dream either. The vulpine sat there motionless, not making any noises other than breathing. He was trying to figure out what had happened and was still in shock. He moved for a second to look down at his chest seeing that he was still in one piece. He finally figured out what had happened then "I'm fine I just had a really bad dream." He said still taking deeper than usual breaths.

"Fox...Your eyes were glowing.." She said sounding worried "What were you dreaming?" He just gasped when she said that and tried to get up only to be pulled down by her. "Fox.." He just looked over at her knowing he didn't want to say but he knew he had to. "I don't really know Krystal.. I just remember I was laying there after i got shot or something." his answer made her give an even worse expression, he could tell she was scared to death now. "It's just a dream it doesn't mean anything.." The vulpine said trying to comfort her. He looked at the clock and then he was worried "Krystal your appointment is in thirty minutes!" She jumped back removing her hands from him and rushed to the bathroom. The vulpine sighed as he waited for her to get done, there was a disadvantage to one room only.

Fifteen minutes later the two found themselves on a taxi to their appointment. The vulpine was stuck in deep thought. _"Why am I so worried about a stupid dream... Why does my chest still hurt though, the dream was so realistic... Well atleast Krystal saw my eyes there so she will understand why I've been worried.."_ Was just some of the things the vulpine thought about on the way.

The two made it just a minute late, rushing in to the hospital and going up the elevator to the eighth floor. Everyone eyed them both as they made there way up to their destination, obviously noticing Fox but having no idea about Krystal. The vulpine quickly made his way through the building to avoid any mobs of fans.

Before they knew it they were talking to their doctor who was a canine with brown fur like most of them, he looked slightly like General Pepper. They hadn't heard how to pronounce his name yet, but it was Dr. Iguez he was old and appeared to be well experienced, the first thing he did when he entered the room was stare at the vixen, slightly bothering Fox. "Nice fur color...Very rare." Was the first thing he said making Krystal slightly blush making the vulpine even more worried, the vixen put her hand over his to calm him and giggled quietly.

The conversation went on and the vulpine came to the worst part of the whole visit, explaining what had happened to Krystal and also him too. "Well you two said you had some weird issues with your eyes?" He asked them the vulpine gulped at his fear for looking like a complete fool and said "Well it all started a few days ago when Krystal had gotten up in the middle of the night." He could feel both Krystal and the doctors glare on him making him blush. He hated being put under spotlight for speeches and anything like this, even though he did well under spotlight while flying. He continued on even though he was slightly embarrassed "And I heard her crying and when I found her she had glowing eyes, I brought a picture if it helps." He said giving him the screenshot from the security camera. The doctor's eyes went wide when he saw the picture. "I've never seen anything like this.." He then left the room giving the vulpine a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

It was about 10 minutes before the doctor returned, the two were just about to leave thinking he was going to avoid them. "Well I came up with only 2 possibilities. The first one is she could have a rare disease. The---" "It wasn't only her it was me too though!" The vulpine cut in eliminating that possibility. "Well what is your home planet Krystal?" He went onto ask making her tear up slightly "Cerinia" The vulpine cut in knowing that she wouldn't want to answer. The doctor was in shock "But that planet was destroyed many years ago.." He was helplessly confused "And _Noone _survived." He made sure he made the Noone stand out making the vixen start crying slightly. "She was the only survivor apparently" Fox put his arm around her and pulled her slightly. "That would explain the fur..." "She's a telepath too." The vulpine cut in, answering any further questions.

"Well are you two seeing anything when this happens?" The vixen started breathing heavily. "Yeah both of us." The doctor had read something about telepaths while studying for his medical degree and was sure he came to their problem. "You're probably experiencing visions of things that may happen in the future. Telepaths sometimes get these." The doctor said making Krystal cry even more, the vulpine was startled and wouldn't admit it but he was scared too. "But then why would I see this?" Fox asked confused at the whole situation. "Well those close to the telepath can sometimes have them too." Fox groaned loudly "Well thanks.." He said hoping this 'vision' wouldn't come true. The two left unsatisfied that they got their answer but nothing would stop their bad nights.

The two returned to their hotel room that night, they reserved to stay for one more night, hearing that Falco and Slippy had gotten into it since they left he wouldn't want to be in that after a stressful day.

"Krystal I need to know what you have seen with your visions, I know you don't want to talk about it but I need to know now." She stopped for a moment, knowing she had to do what she didn't want to now. She sighed and used her telepathy so she could show Fox instead of tell him.

He suddenly was seeing her vision for himself, he fell on the bed closing his eyes to focus on what he could see. He saw what Krystal could see and saw himself flying an Arwing beside her, soon some ship came crashing into the planet's surface. He was confused on what this meant and he could hardly tell what type of ship it was. It was a short vision that ended with the sound of Krystal's slight crying.

Then the second vision came to him it was the dream he had the night before. He saw himself laying on the ground gasping for breath when he was wounded. He could tell Krystal was crying because it kept going to a slight blur. "Krystal... Run!" Was the only thing he could say like before and instead of running Krystal moved up and held his hand. The vision went the same way as his until it got to where his dream ended. Fox saw himself struggling just to breathe and heard himself mutter "Krystal....Run...Please I love you..." and then the vulpine's breathing stopped. Fox tried to think right there but the vision Krystal was sending him with telepathy was only disrupting his thoughts. The figure still was shadowy he couldn't make out the identity of whoever had hurt him. It came closer and Krystal tried to run but it was too late, she let out a shrill cry then it all went black, he could think again and the vision was over.

He was in deep thought and never noticed the vixen laying right beside him throwing her arms around him. She was crying on his shoulder hoping the visions never happened. The vulpine was wondering if this was to predict future events or if this was just to help them prevent them. He was in shock slightly that he had just seen himself die in front of the one he loved.

He finally regained connection with the world "Krystal I'm sure we're only getting these visions to help prevent something." "I hope, I'm really scared." He returned her hug and she gripped onto him tightly. Both of them had alot to think about and they fell asleep in each other's arms thinking and hoping that this would never happen to them.


	26. XXVI A Month to Remember

XXVI. A Month to Remember

The two woke up in each other's arms, they were content for once in a long time. They had regained the rest they lost from their visions.

When the two of them finally got up they packed up and left back for The Great Fox. They were welcomed back by the crew and got back to their regular daily routine of training, missions and the occasional boredom. The two stayed as cautious as possible to avoid their visions, the vulpine never had feared death like he had now even though he wouldn't admit he was scared, Krystal knew. Months seemed to fly by and soon it was July and the time Fox was waiting for was about to come, Krystal's birthday was on the twenty eighth and he had gotten her something very special already. His birthday was the next day but he hadn't looked forward to it much. The only thing that kept him anxious for his birthday was Krystal had a secret gift she had been working on for him and he wanted to know what it was. The crew hadn't had a mission for about a month now so everyone was getting frustrated.

The vulpine woke up the next day later than usual to find a note on the table next to his bed: _"Fox, Whenever you can come over to my room. I have a surprise for you.- Krystal." _He was doubting she would remember and he walked across the hall to Krystal's room. She jumped slightly when the vulpine entered "Good Morning." She laughed slightly at him noticing his fur in a mess and seeing it was already 1 PM. "What's the surprise?" He asked her cutting straight to the point she shrugged at him prolonging his wait. "Oh well, I guess seeing your face is enough of a gift." Fox then moved over to sit next to Krystal, even though what he had said was cheesy it still brought a smile to her face, things like that always did.

"Just for that here, I want to see the expression on your face when you open it!" She hurried him on it,it was just a long box, no wrapping at all even though he hadn't expected it seeing as this was a totally different lifestyle from her old one. He used a knife to cut through the tape revealing something familiar, he shuddered slightly hoping this wouldn't have happened. "No..No, Krystal I-I Can't..." She smiled at him knowing he didn't understand. "I figured you should have one since you got so good at it." Her gift to him was her staff. "Krystal, really there is no way I am taking this." He pushed it back to her trying to not take it knowing deep inside he would end up with it.

"Don't worry Fox. Mine is right here I made that for you." She smiled seeing the vulpine was too shocked this time to push it back and that she was about the only one that could make him speechless so many times. "But how?" He had no idea how they were made. "Don't you need stuff from Cerinia?" "Yes but it was only a rare gem, I used a small amount from my staff. I know i won't have to use it again anyways with all this technology." He kept a slight smile but seeing that she took something from her's to make this one made him wish she never did it. "What are the downsides to your staff now?"He dared to ask knowing this couldn't get any better. He didn't want to take anything from her memories of life before Star Fox and that was the only item she had left other than her tribal attire. "The only downside is that it took away some of the energy of my staff. The energy mainly comes from the crystal, when you learn how to use the staff to its fullest you'll get more out of the crystal."

He sighed knowing the damage had still been done to her staff, but he knew he would cherish this item forever. "Atleast now you'll have something to remember me by." She smiled at him with that cute smile she normally shined at him. "I'll never need to remember you, you'll always be across the hall." He blushed and she instantly knew he didn't mean to actually say that. The vixen wanted to show the vulpine all of her emotions for him there but knew that she needed to wait atleast a little while longer, atleast until they actually started dating and the vulpine was too nervous and afraid of his team's reaction for that now but she knew they were getting closer as time went by.

The vulpine smiled and left the vixen with a kiss on the cheek. The rest of the team hadn't gotten Fox anything close to what Krystal had. New boots from Slippy that featured more gadgets for combat and provided less comfort, A joke gift from Falco a book on dating along with a new combat knife with the Star Fox logo on the blade. Peppy had gotten Fox an old picture of his father that he had dug up, making it a day of memories for the vulpine, the staff reminding him of Sauria and saving Krystal and the photo reminding him of his father who was always watching. He was worried on what his father would think of him at this point, knowing that he had gone slightly crazy over the vixen he had saved and not done many missions so far. His next big task was well on it's way, he just didn't know it.

Lodged between the two birthdays was the anniversary of Star Fox's creation, nothing special was normally done so this year the vulpine hadn't expected anything but this year was special, it was Star Fox's 15th anniversary. Even though Fox, Slippy and Falco weren't on the team then Slippy and Falco threw in to help make a nice dinner for everyone, Slippy actually cooked with Peppy while Falco did his best to set up a table for them. The vulpine was shocked at what the team had decided to do without him, once again he was talking to Krystal and not paying attention to the team's decision. Peppy and Slippy didn't mind but Falco ranted about how he had to work and Fox didn't for what seemed to be hours.

The group ate like it was Thanksgiving on that special occasion and the usual sober team did have something special to drink on that night as well.

The group had a mission the next day, luckily none of them drank much and they kept their calm when they heard the call to help a Cornerian Battle Ship. They flew into the joy of combat once again fighting off almost a hundred ships from a rebellion of the planet they had taken off from, Fortuna. The job was quick and easy for the team, it made the simulators look extremely challenging even though those barely made you break a sweat. When the team returned Falco saw something strange and went to check it out, the team thought he was crazy and let the avian have his little adventure.

Days passed Falco still hadn't returned so they went looking for him, with how he acted recently they were scared he might have bailed on the team once again. Falco tried to head back to The Great Fox a day after they left but found them long gone and off radar and went searching for them.

Soon the day Fox had looked forward to for the past two months had come, the perfect time to give Krystal her gift was now but he knew his gift wouldn't even come close to her's. "_July 28th... Finally._" The vulpine thought as he got up and dressed in his usual apparel, grabbing a jewelry box out of the closet and heading for Krystal's room.

Knocking on the door nervousness crept up his spine, Noone answered, he groaned loudly and knocked louder. He heard a faint whimpering and opened the door manually finding Krystal on the bed, her body twitching and she was having another vision. He sighed and sat down next to her trying his best to comfort her but it didn't help any.

Her vision was one she had once before, She didn't know what was happening but she felt anger, fear and sorrow from it. Soon she felt Fox's body next to her and snapped back into reality, clinging onto him instantly. "You okay?" He asked when he saw she was conscious. "Now I am" She replied warmly. "Here I got this for you." He said and she saw him pull out something from his pocket, a small box. He put the small jewelry box in her hand and she stared at it, almost seeming like she was trying to open it with her stare. It didn't work and the vulpine nudged her "Well open it." and he chuckled. She opened it and her mouth went wide agape.

"Fox.. I can't take this it must have cost a fortune.." She muttered he could barely hear her words. "Krystal, I took your's you take mine." He smiled at her, apparently their gift dilemma goes two ways. "Fox, this..This must've cost a fortune to get, you need to take this back." It was the expensive necklace he had seen, he couldn't resist but buy it for her. "Take it you deserve the best anyway." She blushed "B-But Fox, do you even know what these diamonds are?" He slightly chuckled again "No I'm not good with diamonds." "These are ancient diamonds from Cerinia.." He knew it matched her staff's glow and even screamed her type to him, he could atleast get that right. "With Cerinia destroyed these must cost a ton..." She thought aloud. The vulpine smiled and left the room quickly, tore the receipt and came back. She knew what he did and accepted his gift, thrilled as he was with his. "Do you like it though?" He asked when he came back in. "Honestly, I love it but I cant make you pay for it.. I mean you saved me for that money and now you spent it on me." He smiled knowing everything she had said was true but he didn't mind it at all. "I don't mind, you're more important than money... Plus the Lylat System will soon be on the brink of destruction again and we will get a hearty payment for it." She laughed hoping he wasn't serious, but he actually was. The vulpine could sense the danger coming before anything bad happened, two days before he had to go to Sauria he had started looking up where any disturbances had been and it pointed him to fly to Sauria in the first place.

Noone else had known about Krystal's birthday so the night went by quietly for Star Fox. They kept a constant lookout for Falco and flew to the furthest corners of Lylat. The rest of the team went to bed without satisfaction, Fox was proud that he had blown Krystal away with his gift and Krystal looked down at her new necklace remembering old memories of family members. She knew that Star Fox was her family now and was glad to be with every one of them.

Fox felt angered at himself for not telling anyone about Krystal's birthday but he was focused more on her than the team and he knew he had to stop that very soon, no matter how hard it was.

_-Author's Note: I forgot to do Author's notes lately so I'll basically throw it all in here I know some might not like how i went forward in time but I have alot more ground to cover with alot more action upcoming. Already 2,500 hits on this story which might not be alot but I'm very very impressed with it and i hope atleast 1000 are enjoying it. Thank you all for reading and reviewing I'll keep writing and hopefully you'll enjoy what I have to come.-_


	27. XXVII Finding Falco

XXVII. Finding Falco

The vixen woke up the following day to Fox's voice, he sounded very angry over something so she went to check it out, despite her body telling her not to after a short night of sleep. She had been playing with the necklace Fox had given her for most of the night, remembering some of her early childhood and flicking the gem to make it glow.

"Why can't we just call him in? This makes no sense!" Was what she heard from the angered vulpine "His communications were down we've tried that." Slippy groaned with anger. Krystal was standing in the room about 3 minutes before Fox had noticed her, his face was almost blood red. "What's wrong?" She asked even though she knew it was over Falco going missing. "We got called in for a mission and Falco still is gone. We've tried everything!" Slippy yelled from the next room as he continuously checked the radar "We've tried tracking the Arwing and communications but still can't contact him, I hope he didn't bail on us." The vulpine muttered under his breath

"Well why don't we just go without him?" She asked him "We could...But.." "But..?" "Well he's a good pilot and I feel like we might need him." When the vulpine finished Slippy burst with laughter. "We only got called in to check out what's going on at Fortuna! We won't need him for that!" She noticed the vulpine acting strangely, he hardly even looked at her which was the opposite of what he normally did. She grabbed his arm, he jumped slightly and she pulled him into the hall.

"What's wrong?" She asked him again wanting a better answer now that they were in private. "Nothing just Falco is gone." "There's something else.." She tried to get the vulpine to cooperate "I just think something bigs about to happen and Falco won't be here to help" He finally admitted, he was slightly ashamed that he slightly feared something about their situation. "We'll be fine, you saved a whole planet and me by yourself. I'm sure you can handle this" Her hand had gone onto his cheek and the two leaned closer to each other. When their lips were about to meet Fox heard Slippy's yelling. _"Cant have a nice moment on this ship without somebody ruining it.."_ Is what they both thought as Fox ran into the room to find Slippy staring at the radar "There's a ship outside, it might be Falco." Slippy said, Fox didn't have time for hesitation, he rushed down to board his Arwing to find out who it was.

Krystal, Slippy and Peppy could hear the loud noise of his Arwing shooting off to see what it was, the vulpine was too impatient to wait on The Great Fox to get to the location, Krystal quickly followed him while Slippy stayed onboard with Peppy.

"I'm not sensing any life here Fox.." Krystal told Fox but he still didn't stop, just to make sure but he knew she never was wrong about this sort of thing. "Well I don't see anything, not even wreckage, just a ton of asteroids.." The vulpine sighed "Come on let's get ba--" "Wait look over there!" Krystal interrupted him putting up a spark of hope that was quickly brought down. "It's just wreckage" He groaned this time but as he got a closer look he could definitely tell what it was from. "There's something on the other side though, can you see what it is?" Krystal asked him but he saw it as clear as possible from his side, it read the last two letters from their teams logo and they knew immediately something had to happen to Falco's ship here. "I hope he's alright.." Were the only words he could mutter, Krystal had no idea what Fox had seen from his view until she flew over and saw it from his view. They were slightly glad to know they were closer to finding Falco but now feared the worst. "Atleast it wasn't the cockpit..." was all Krystal could say "Come on we need to go get Slippy, we'll find him, or the rest of his ship." The vulpine ordered and they headed back to base.

When the two got back into the hangar Fox seemed slightly off to Krystal, he was slightly affected by seeing that he let this whole situation happen. The only thoughts she could read were _"I hope he's alright, I can't beleive I just let him go off on his own, Pepper's going to be so mad over this one..Wait I forgot our--" _"Krystal, could you go get Slippy? I need to tell the general we can't do our mission now." He broke her line of thought, quickly nodded and let him clear things up.

In his room Fox called General Pepper and tried to explain that they couldn't do their mission. "Well..Uh... Falco's well.. Falco is in trouble right now and we need to focus on that.." He managed to finally say it without totally explaining their situation. He expected the worst from Pepper but all he got was "Well..I guess that's fine, I'll just send another crew over." The hound wasn't normally this forgiving but after all the work Fox had done for him maybe he let this one go by.

The three remaining pilots checked their Arwings and launched towards the wreckage off on yet another adventure. As soon as they got to the wreckage Slippy pointed out what was lost off of Falco's ship in what seemed less than a second "Lost left side wing, the engine, one of the lasers, air conditioning and oxygen tank and also the g-diffuser probably no longer works. He couldn't have made it very far from here." Krystal sat with her mouth slightly open surprised at how talented he was with all things mechanical but couldn't fly or drive them very well. "Well, where do you think he went?" The vulpine was laughed at by both of them "What's so funny?" He asked slightly annoyed. "Look behind the wreckage, that might be a good place to start!" Slippy barely said without laughing, moments like this were very rare for the vulpine so he took all he could from each one.

The vulpine was caught by surprise seeing the large planet they were close to, he hadn't paid much attention to anything other than the wreckage. The planet seemed to be like Aquas at first look but was slightly darker, it had a purple glow to it. "Alright..I guess I didn't see that, okay lets check it out." He said and they all flew in with high speed, Slippy slightly slower than Fox and Krystal, barely keeping his Arwing under control after his new adjustments to the wings.

"What the? Where are we??" The vulpine asked as they tried to find a place to land in. The planet was like none they have seen before, a swampland that had no trees, just giant mushrooms that had grown from fifty feet to even two hundred feet tall. "You are now in Beume" R.O.B. Hummed in his robotic tone. "Are we even in Lylat anymore?" Slippy asked soon after, they all had never heard of this place. "Doesn't appear so Slip." Peppy said, "I can't even find a map for this place." The vulpine sighed after hearing this. "Do we just land on one of the smaller mushrooms?" Krystal added in "I don't know, I'm getting a headache from the color of this place" Fox groaned back in response.

"Look there's an open spot!" Slippy said sounding slightly excited to explore this planet, Krystal and Fox the two who normally liked checking out strange planets didn't like the whole situation though. They finally landed in a small open area, when Krystal stepped out onto the planet's surface it was followed by a loud "Ugh.." She was wading in almost knee high thick swampy waters. "This'll be fun." Fox said as they tried to make their way onto some dry land. Not only was the water thick it was also very cold and left and icy chill, unlike any they had even thought possible. The planet was mildly temperate though which made the waters temperature questionable.

"The smell of this place is awful.." Krystal complained, the others agreed. If Falco had been here he would be just about as happy as they were right now. "Look up though." Fox said and Krystal did as told, looking up to see not one but two suns setting over them. "Wow.." Was all she could muster out, staring in awe before feeling something slither around her feet and she let out a short yell jumping back towards Fox, making him stare and Slippy laugh. "I can't wait to get out of here.." She muttered under her breath as they kept going.

Hours passed, consisting of nothing but wading through the freezing swampy waters, nothing had been found yet and it was getting dark. The team all were thinking about one thing in common, how they would manage to sleep out in this wasteland. The temperature had gone down to around 30 degrees, strange weather for a swamp but from what they saw there was nothing normal about this strange place. Fox could hear Krystal's shivering and couldn't help but to pull her closer. When he tried Krystal apparently hit a deeper area in the swamp nearly falling _"Smooth.."_ He thought to himself as Krystal walked next to him herself, Slippy having another childish laughing fit and knowing it annoyed him.

Krystal then jumped back into Fox's chest with a scream. "Krystal? What's wrong with you?" Fox asked unable to tell what her issue was. "Something is alive in the swamp and it keeps swimming by me." "You'll be fine, it can't be big enough to hurt if it lives in this." He tried to assure her she was okay but she knew better at this point and kept on constant guard. Seconds later Slippy jumped too, obviously having the same problem Krystal had. "You too Slip?" Fox laughed slightly finding it amusing at this point, now the vulpine was asking for it and had a feeling he would be next.

Soon Krystal jumped back again, Fox couldn't help but laugh at her and she playfully slapped him. Suddenly he jumped back as well making them both laugh but Fox decided to end it there, he reached down and grabbed whatever was there. He yelled in pain as he pulled up a huge snake from the muck, its teeth dug into his arm. He slammed it on the side of a nearby mushroom making it let go and Slippy then shot it he had been aiming the whole time but was afraid he'd clip Fox if he shot too early. "Nice going" Krystal laughed at Fox who's arm was now bleeding. "I'll get over it." He smirked.

Hours after their episode with the snake they finally came upon what they were looking for. "Fox look at that!" Krystal exclaimed as Fox looked over to see a mushroom that had fallen to the ground along with smoking wreckage behind it. Fox went for a closer look while Slippy and Krystal used the land to sit for a break from walking. A closer look proved that this was where Falco had landed but an even closer look would show nobody was in the cockpit either. "Dang it!" The vulpine yelled so loud probably half the planet heard, if anyone was even alive on the planet.

Fox walked back hanging his head low in frustration that they had to search even more. "Not him?" Slippy and Krystal both asked as he sat with them "Yeah it was his, apparently he's okay, wherever he is.." Fox sighed and everyone could notice that he was tired at this point. "Want to just camp here for the night?" Slippy asked. If it had been anywhere else sure Fox would be fine with it but who knew what would come to three people sleeping in a place like this. "I don't know.." Fox went onto say trying to hide his yawning afterwards. "It's up to Krystal I guess, I can handle it." He put the pressure on the vixen now and she let a slight glare his way followed by her using her telepathy to say "Thanks for making me decide.." Fox smiled at her while she was stuck in thought about all that had happened that day. "I guess we don't have a choice. Who knows when we'll find dry land again." And it was settled that the team would spend a night in the cold swamps of Beume.

_-Author's note: Took a short break from writing and this chapter was a two night process so this is my first addition in a few days, hope you enjoy, thanks for your reviews,messages etc I'm glad to see that some of you are enjoying this.-_


	28. XXVIII Saving Falco

XXVIII. Saving Falco

About two hours after the three decided to stay for the night, Krystal still couldn't sleep. The thought of where they were added with the freezing temperatures didn't help at all. Unable to go to sleep she went back to flicking her necklace to make it glow, trying to enjoy something out of this. Her childhood memories were replaced this time by the one who had given the necklace to her in the first place. She felt that her time now with Fox was better than what she had even if she hardly remembered it.

"Krystal... What are you doing?" Fox groaned and asked sleepily, the light of her necklace woke him up and it was probably the brightest light he had seen from something so small. "I can't sleep" She said not noticing he had already walked over beside her trying to figure out what light she had. "What the heck is that?" He asked pointing at the glowing necklace. "Well, you gave it to me you should know." She laughed at him "I mean what did you do to it?" He sighed. "It's something I used to do when I was a kid." She smiled even though it was too dark for him to see now that the necklace had dimmed out. "No wonder you can't sleep you have a portable light on your neck.." He laughed slightly seeing the necklace's power.

He slightly touched Krystal on the arm feeling her shaking violently, shivering from the weather. She blushed feeling him move beside her and soon he laid down next to her. "I thought we were going to keep this away from the team.." She muttered under her breath as the vulpine tried to warm her. "Well I can't stand seeing you like this." His mind was set right now and he would pay for the consequences in the morning. The vixen quickly fell asleep in his arms, not even noticing the world around them now.

Morning came quickly and she noticed Fox wasn't beside her now, she sighed looking around for anyone else. She saw Slippy and Fox staring at a box and quickly went to investigate as well. "What's this?" She asked seeing the vulpine struggling to open it using his knife like a crowbar. "Peppy sent us some supplies overnight. Didn't you hear Slippy yelling?" She only shrugged at him, Slippy smiled knowing that they were next to each other but decided to leave them alone.

With a final grunt he opened the large box, they were made to be shot open by Arwings, not pried open. "Wow do we really need all this?" Was Krystal's response to the six weapons it held along with some food and water. "Never know...Especially in a place like this." Fox knew that he could never expect what could happen here. Fox grabbed two weapons strapping them on his back and waited for the other two, the sooner out of here the better. They quickly did the same following the vulpine through the swamps. Krystal had no idea or training of these weapons and their abilities but she picked up the same ones Fox did, expecting he knew what he was doing.

The group soon found themselves at land again, it only went on four feet before dropping off into a canyon. The vulpine kicked the much off of his boots before it dried on there and looked around for a bridge or anything where they could cross to the other side. "Fox I'm sensing something here.." Krystal said lightly tugging on him. "Is it Falco?" "It's more than one, we're not alone here." The vulpine smiled for a moment thinking it could possibly be a city so they could find Falco and go back home. This wasn't the case though.

"Hey put me down!" A familiar voice yelled out loudly "That's Falco!" Slippy exclaimed, the vulpine pulled out his binoculars and looked for him. On the other side of the canyon there was a ridge that lead down into a tunnel, there he saw a Lizard taking Falco down the ledge. "There on the ridge. I think that's Leon." Fox said grabbing a gun from his back. "Fox I don't think you can get a good shot from here.." Krystal said to him hoping she didn't look dumb, she knew the blasters would have no effect from here. "Don't worry, give me a second." Fox said taking a few deep breaths and pulling out a gun he hadn't used in way too long. A sniper rifle used to be his weapon of choice, he was hoping it still was. "Fox hurry they're going to push Falco off the edge I think!" Slippy yelled at him

_"Wait they're? There's more?" _He thought to himself and Krystal pointed at another lizard on top of the ridge apparently keeping guard. Krystal's telepathy had shined again in combat and might have even saved their lives there. Fox looked into the scope, examining his targets movement for a moment and seeing that he was talking to him but he couldn't read his lips or hear him from this distance. It was atleast 300 yards away, the vulpine took a deep breath and waited. He had much more patience than the others as they kept on telling him to shoot, he wasn't listening to them for once though.

He took another deep breath waiting until the perfect moment, when the guard hadn't been looking towards them but time wasn't on their hands. The lizard started pushing slightly on the avian who hadn't fought him, to everyone's surprise, right then and there the time had come for Fox to shoot if he was going to save his friend and wingmate. Sweat slightly dripped down the vulpine's face as he shook slightly and pulled the trigger. In an instant a laser flashed out of the rifle and it went wide of his target. He knew he had missed as soon as he pulled the trigger, his arm had started shaking slightly and messed up his aim that much. He rebounded quickly taking another breath and this time hit his target, only in the leg but enough to make him fall off the cliff.

He smiled as Falco gazed over across the canyon to see who had saved him. _"I need more practice, I can't believe I --" _"Fox to your left!" Krystal cried out, Fox remembered there were 2 and not one enemies here. He moved his head just in time as a laser shot went right through the scope of his rifle where a split second ago his eye had been. Krystal gasped thinking Fox had been hit and grabbed his arm, he shook it off and tried to shoot the second lizard without a scope.

Krystal grabbed the rifle she had and tried to do the same Fox had with his shot, except get better results if possible. She took a breath and shook slightly, Fox grabbed her arm making it still and she shot. A better shot than some of Fox's best. "Nice job" He smiled at her and she smiled back and slightly shuddered when she saw what she had done to the enemy.

The two congratulated and slightly praised Krystal for doing so well especially on her first shot and they looked for a bridge or something so they could meet up with Falco.

_-Author's Note: Short chapter but I wanted to get something out tonight and this is all i could manage, hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading comments etc.-_


	29. XXIX City of Thugs

XXIX. City of Thugs

The group walked for about half a mile and finally found a bridge across the canyon. Falco followed the group after finally using his binoculars to see who his rescuers were. Krystal finally pulled Fox aside for a moment before either of them said anything to Falco "Fox what's wrong?" She asked him, concerned that he was holding his arm constantly on their walk and grimacing. "Nothing just my arm is bothering me." "Let me see it." She gave him no choice and unwrapped the sloppily wrapped bandage on his arm where the snake had bit him earlier. "It doesn't look that bad." She smiled at him and grabbed a new bandage, wrapping this one alot neater than the one before. He let out a fake smile, the looks didn't show how irritating it was to him.

The two went back to the others "Thanks Fox." Falco said not proud of what had happened recently. "You should thank Krystal, she made the shot and helped out alot." Fox smiled, letting Krystal have the glory of this one, she deserved it. Krystal blushed at the vulpine's remark and the attention of thanks afterwards didn't help. "So, Falco, what happened?" Fox finally asked him. "Well I saw Star Wolf flying by and by the time i chased them off by myself you guys had left looking for me. I lost my radar and communications during the battle so I had no other choice but to look for you myself. When I got here Leon shot me down so I've been stranded here."

The vulpine sighed at the story, knowing it was all his fault. _"I'm never letting anything like this happen again, no matter what."_ He thought to himself and he would stand by that no matter what his crew's response was. "Was one of those lizards Leon?" Slippy asked "No.." Falco sighed "This planet is filled with thugs, that's why Leon and Wolf came here I'm guessing." "You mean there's actually more people here?" Fox butted in. "Yeah, a city the size of Corneria City. They won't let you in alive though, everyone there hates you." The vulpine sighed knowing that Falco would have to ride with someone in their Arwing and knowing that would be a disaster. The city was their only other option.

It was getting dark yet again and a decision had to be made for the team. They could sleep like they did the previous night, try and get back to the Arwings by going through the swamps at night or try to somehow get into this 'city'. None of their options seemed any good to them. "Okay let's just vote on what we do since nothing seems easy.." The vulpine sighed trying to get the group organized. "The sooner we get out of here the better." Slippy groaned. Falco yawned obviously showing his vote. "I don't think we need to go near that city or the swamps at night, here's our safest option" Krystal said, deciding the team would stay there for the night.

Fox's sleep wasn't as easy as everyone else's, almost up all of the night. Krystal woke up and found the vulpine shaking and curled up into a ball of some sort. "Fox..?" He didn't answer and she got closer he was sweating, running a temperature and his heart was racing but he wouldn't respond. She didn't even think he could hear her at this point. She resorted to telepathy to try and communicate with the vulpine but it didn't help much, he couldn't respond even if her telepathy worked and his mind was racing. "Falco, Slippy!" She called out for help she had no idea on what to do. "What's wrong now?" Slippy groaned getting up and Falco never woke up. "I don't know what's wrong with him." She was obviously worried and about to slightly cry at the situation thinking the vulpine might be seriously injured or dying.

The vulpine's temperature had to be atleast 100 degrees despite it only being 20 outside now. "Fox?" Slippy asked as the vulpine's body wouldn't break from the ball he had curled into. "Krys..?" Was the only words he could mutter shaking violently. Slippy called The Great Fox trying to figure out what might be the vulpine's issue. Krystal knew the symptoms he was having were definite signs of a poisonous snake bite, she had been bitten a couple times as a child and remembered them both painfully. The vulpine's shaking and groaning put those memories back into her mind and gave her a flashback of one of her many near death experiences.

"Fox can you hear me?" Slippy asked him and he slightly nodded with labored heavy breathing, Krystal's hand slightly brushing the side of his head knowing they couldn't do anything to help him without a doctor now. Slippy named off a list of symptoms between vomiting and high fevers most of them were checked only proving Krystal's suspicion. "We need to get him back to a hospital or to The Great Fox asap." Slippy said and went to wake up Falco.

"Wait!" Krystal cried out before Slippy awoke the avian only to wake him up with her yelling. "What's going on?" Falco yawned sounding very annoyed that the two woke him up before seeing the vulpine's condition. "Ah crud! Fox got bitten by a snake here didn't he?" The avian smirked showing he was familiar with this problem. "You've seen this before?" Krystal asked hoping that the vulpine wold be okay. "Yeah but not from the snakes. I've seen the venom used on weapons though." The avian had a slight frightful look on his face, making Krystal wonder about the bird's past.

"The normal survival time after this stage is less than a day and hospitals can't treat it.." Falco sighed. A few tears slipped from her uncontrollably. "But there is something that may help in the city here. "Noone will treat him in that city though.." Krystal sighed and Slippy knew she was right, Noone knew if the vulpine could hear them at this point. "Well you could try and find someone to sell it to you though." Krystal's eyes lit up at the chance for the vulpine to live before crashing down and finding out they would have to go to the ''city of thugs''.

"I can't go though they'll boot me out or worse. They know I joined back with Star Fox and that's why I was in that situation on the cliff." Falco sighed kicking a small rock. "Slippy won't last a moment in there either." Falco went on making the vixens heart pound knowing what she had to do now. "Noone knows bout you though Krystal." He smiled slightly as her fear got the best of her at this point, she was shaking even though she didn't notice. "With that new flight suit you might fit in too." He laughed only making the vixen consider changing all her outfits later. "But how will I know what to get or who to ask?" She continued to tremble slightly. "Just search alleyways to find a poisons vendor there you'll find someone who can give you a cure for it."

Her heat was pounding and she was considering not even going at this point before looking down and seeing Fox in misery. _"He's saved me too many times for me not to do this.. Plus I really care for him anyway's.." _She thought to herself and nodded slightly to Falco telling him she was in. "Where is the city though?" She asked him. "I'll show you it's not that far." He assured her she would be fine and they left, leaving Slippy behind with Fox. "N-N-Noone will come here will they?" Slippy muttered in fear before they left. "Slippy you have 2 blasters just roast whatever comes close! We'll only be gone an hour tops." And with that Krystal and Falco headed off into the distance.

About 10 minutes later the two found themselves on the outskirts of a town that looked slightly deserted. "Falco it's 5 A.M. Are you sure anyone will be there?" He chuckled "This is the best time of day for them. Just go in there and don't get sidetracked by saving anyone or doing anything good and get out." With that the vixen gulped and headed into the dark city.

_"This is for Fox.. For Fox.. For Fox.. For Fox.."_ Was all the vixen thought to herself while going through the filthy city, car alarms were going off almost constantly and glass shattered from nearby houses. Her telepathy was doing exactly the opposite of helping her now, seeing the thoughts of the males she passed made her clench her blaster. She walked down one alleyway to another looking for anyone that could sell her what she wanted.

She found many people that sold drugs but none that helped in medical situations. She thought all hope was lost before she entered the city and this wasn't helping. She heard footsteps behind her and clenched her blaster, turning around to see what was following her. It had been a Fox about the size of Falco with dark brown fur, unlike Fox's golden colored brown.

"You lost?" He asked spitting on the ground beside her, he could tell she was scared of him by her backing up slowly into a brick wall. "Y-y-yeah..I was just.." "Just give me your money and I won't hurt you." He smirked devilishly, she instantly pulled out her blaster but he hit it out of her hand and kicked it back out of the alleyway. She noticed four more figures slowly moving towards her. She was shaking in fear and all she could think about was that she was going to die here, or worse, and Fox would die as well.

Suddenly something popped in her mind and she attacked like a savage, pulling out her staff and cracking her assailant across the head and knocking him out. She saw the figured charging at her which now she could recognize as a tiger, two raccoons and a hound. With a leap forward she hit the tiger with her staff, right across the face and then across his chest knocking him to the ground as well. She saw the other two fleeing in defeat and used her fire blaster on their legs making them fall to the ground. Soon she returned to her regular self, shuddering at the unconscious bodies on the ground around her. "What have I done now.." She muttered sprinting off before they regained consciousness.

Krystal had no problem in space combat but something about ground combat against other people made her stomach twist, she thought it was cold blooded to kill another person like that, even though she hadn't killed the four and she was in the right something inside made her believe she was in the wrong.

She suddenly focused her mind back on Fox and hoped she could return the favor of the many times he saved her. She finally came to a sign that read _Poison needs_ and pointed towards the next alleyway. _"Apparently there's no police here.._" The vixen thought before noticing the shady figure in front of her. "What're you looking for?" He asked in a cool tone, so cool it sent a shiver down her spine. "I-I-I -need some anti-venom for the snakes around this area.." She finally blurted out shaking uncontrollably in fear. "Alright, you're lucky I only got one left." He smiled and she could see a gold tooth but nothing else from the strange person's face other than the eyes. "That'll be 5,000." He smiled again.

All the vixen had was 2500 and she soon panicked. "I only have 2,500.." She admitted a tear running down her face. "Well if you want I could take that necklace and sell it for the difference." He smiled. She wanted to cry, Fox had given this to her but he would die without the anti-venom so it led to an easy solution. "Not that one, it looks too fake. The silver one." He chuckled slightly and she wanted to cry again, this necklace was given to her by her family. _"Fox is my only family now.. I can't lose him." _She though to herself and gave up the necklace, now wishing she had given the other one instead. She didn't like it as much but she felt ashamed of herself for selling it. "Thank you!" She smiled and left with what she needed.

Falco was sitting on the hill at the outskirts of town when he saw the vixen running faster than he had seen anything run. "You got it?" He asked sounding surprised. "Yep, now let's get off of this planet and never come back. Again!" Her shaking finally stopped when they were halfway to Fox. "So did you run into anybody?" He asked already knocking from the small amount of blood on her staff. "I don't want to talk about it." She quivered slightly at the thought.

"Took you all long enough!" Slippy yelled before they could see him. He had been waiting impatiently for their return now for two hours and one of the suns were rising already. Slippy put the anti-venom into a shot and tried to get the vulpine still enough for the shot. "Come on Fox stay still!." It was no use he couldn't hear them. "Fox please.." Krystal said grabbing the vulpine, it seemed to work somehow and finally their problem was slowly fading away. Falco was slightly amazed at how the vixen had saved the vulpine from the seemingly impossible and also on how he reacted to her."Krystal?.." Fox groaned lifting his head pitifully before it came crashing down. "You're going to be okay, just rest." She smiled Slippy smiled at the situation. "Come on Slip, let's leave these two alone." He coughed and Slippy nodded and followed.

_-Author's note: Longer chapter it's been in progress for 2 days, I wanted to release it Friday night but my computer was down, Please enjoy this chapter and the additional drama of this story, Thanks for all your comments, reviews and support it means the world to me to see! PS: starting on Assault very soon if you're wondering-_


	30. XXX Leaving This Wasteland

XXX. Leaving This Wasteland

Fox groaned, opening his eyes and finally coming back to his senses. The first thing he had asked himself: What happened? He noticed he was onboard The Great Fox, in a hospital bed. The vulpine's heart rate noticeably went up as he frantically felt his body for a wound or anything that could've caused him to be here. Krystal heard the noise and rushed to his aid, "Krystal? What happened to me?" He asked slightly in fear. "You're fine, just calm down. That snake was very poisonous so you're still recovering." She smiled holding onto his arm before giving the whole story on what had happened, instead of telling him she used her telepathy like before.

The vulpine was soon in a dreamlike state, unable to control his movements and seeing from Krystal's eyes. He saw how she boldly went into the dark city alone for him and almost broke Krystal's concentration by his wide smile. Soon she was out of the city avoiding as much combat as she could, which still wasn't enough. Fox then saw what his condition was, sweating an incredible amount, shaking and also he then remembered the pain he was in. Krystal noticed the vulpine tense up and skipped through until he finally regained consciousness. "Krystal?.." Was the first thing he said, although it seemed more like a groan. "Fox!" She smiled and hugged him without hesitation. He could only groan in response, he soon remembered what had happened, although it seemed foggy to him still.

It seemed like hours passed and the vixen never let him go, it seemed quite weird for him as it seemed he was holding himself. Soon Falco interrupted the vixen's bone shattering grasp on him and before he knew it Falco and Slippy were helping him to his feet. He couldn't walk or hardly see a thing, still in a blur as he remembered it and the two had to help him back through the swamp. They started just as the sun rose and it was nearly dusk by the time they reached the Arwings. "What're we going to do about Fox?" Slippy asked Falco shrugged "I doubt he'll be able to fly in his condition." Krystal said and slightly giggled seeing the vulpine out cold again. "I got dibs on Fox's Arwing!" Falco yelled hopping in and closing the cockpit before they could decide who Fox would ride with. "You can take him Krystal." Slippy laughed and did the same for his Arwing.

She smiled slightly unable to keep herself from laughing before gently laying the vulpine down on the seat and sitting on top of him. "This won't be comfortable" She grunted trying to fit, the size of the cockpits in the newer Arwings weren't even close to the size of the earlier ones. After fifteen minutes of struggling she had finally taken off towards The Great Fox to catch the rest of the team.

About a couple miles from home the vixen noticed two Wolfens and another ship speeding off, she couldn't even get a glimpse of who was in the third ship or any of them for that matter. "Wonder where they're headed to.." She thought aloud before she heard a groan from behind her, she quickly realized she had elbowed the vulpine accidentally. Finally she boarded the ship and Fox was taken by Peppy to be monitored, just to be safe, she grabbed something to eat and then quickly followed to check on him.

The vision she had given him now faded and he could see her sitting at his side smiling still. "All from a dumb snake?" He questioned "No, this is just because you laughed at me." She couldn't help but laugh midsentence, he quickly joined her remembering how he had laughed at her from being scared from the snake, this was irony at it's worst. "Krystal, thank you." Was all he could muster out at the moment. "I still owe you from all the times you saved me." She giggled "You don't owe me a thing." He smiled as Krystal moved closer to him. The EKG started going crazy, he was blushing too and this made her back down slightly. _"I need to stop that, I act like I've just met her.." _He thought to himself. "I'm should get some rest too, I'll come check on you in the morning." She yawned only making him feel worse for what just happened. "Goodnight Krystal." Was the only thing he could manage out, he was still wildly blushing. "Goodnight Fox.. Get better please." And with that the door shut and left the vulpine alone to think of what she had done for him the day before, the thoughts quickly put him into a well needed sleep.

_-Author's Note: First off thanks for the support to everyone, messages, reviews and thank you all for reading. Secondly This is obviously a very very short chapter but I did need to add something so I added a quick short chapter. And finally I will be taking a few days off of writing due to the Thanksgiving holiday, this chapter even though it was so short took me two days to finish, with my birthday being Saturday of this week and my family visiting I won't start writing again until Monday or Tuesday, I added more to my biography under my profile page to all of you who want to know why I'm writing this fanfic or just want to know more about me personally. Once again thank you all and have a safe holiday.-_


	31. XXXI A New Assignment

XXXI. A New Assignment.

It didn't take long for Fox to get back on his feet after his injury. Only two days after leaving Beume the vulpine managed the strength to get up and even train slightly, focusing on the basics. "You never know when something will happen." He always said whenever they asked why he kept training. The vulpine did a normal day routine of just flying around and doing acrobatics in his Arwing followed by physical challenges for himself to improve his aim and endurance. He cut off from the physical exercises while he was still recovering from the bite.

While Fox was recovering the team didn't get any missions, General Pepper told Fox he had sent another group in for their duties on Fortuna making him wonder if they'd get another chance at a mission soon. It was the fourth day after leaving the swampy world that Fox started target practice with his blaster. _"I can't believe I missed back there, I could've killed Falco with that mistake or worse all of us." _Was all that went through his mind as he switched from his blaster to the various weapons they used, from sniper rifles to machine guns he made sure he would be ready next time.

The whole team could hear a loud racket coming from the bottom floors. "What the heck could be going on down there?" Falco questioned while the team was sitting around the table hoping they would get a mission soon. "I don't know.. I'll check, beats sitting here." Krystal muttered and got up.

The vulpine couldn't hear the vixen sneak up on him from the noise and didn't even notice when she grabbed his arm. She shook it violently causing him to misfire, he groaned and turned to her putting down the gun. "What are you doing?" She asked, "Just practicing.." "You're awfully loud." She laughed slightly at his shots that had missed, making their marks on the walls. "I guess... I didn't think you'd hear it all the way up there." "It's because you missed isn't it?" She asked without hesitating "It's the reason you're practicing." He stuttered for a moment, blushing slightly at how well she grew to know him. "Yeah.."

As soon as he sat down his weapon the intercom came on with Peppy's voice. "Fox get up here we have a mission!" They both smiled and raced up the steps.

"How bad is it?" Fox asked as he got up the steps. "Pretty bad, General Pepper lost communications." Peppy stated."The rebellion on Fortuna turned into a war in a matter of days!" Slippy cut in, he smiled knowing now that they would have something to do and expected it to be easy. "Okay well put all our power to the engines and get to the next gate!" The vulpine ordered followed by R.O.B. Confirming the switch in power. "At this speed we should reach the gate in approximately 2 minutes and forty three seconds." The robot stated and Fox went into his room quickly to change into his normal gear.

As soon as the vulpine came back he found the team sitting down at their chairs on the bridge, getting ready for their new mission. Fox sat down next to Krystal and smiled slightly, but the second he smiled it was wiped off by the situation he saw as they left the gate and were staring at the battle outside Fortuna. Their communications went in with the rest of the Cornerian fleet, "Team Starfox ready for duty" Fox stated proudly as slippy cut in "Leave these losers to the pros. We'll beat 'em in no time." Leaving Falco, Fox, Krystal and Peppy slightly annoyed from his confidence.

They finally gained contact with Pepper again who told them Andrew Oikkony was behind all of the chaos and that his army consisted of scum that helped Andross before. He groaned after they ended the transmission "When are we going to fight somebody other than Andross.." "Never I guess, he's more of a problem dead than alive." Falco sighed.

They headed off to board their Arwings, Slippy falling behind as usual. Fox checked all of their ships' status notifying Peppy that they were okay for launch. Peppy told Fox and the team to be careful and launched the Arwings out at a speed Krystal hadn't experienced yet and almost made her sick from the Arwing's spinning.

They all entered the war zone staring at atleast two hundred fleet ships with the addition of the fighters. Slippy was expecting them to be a pushover and charged in first only to get one ship on his tail already, Fox sighed and shot down the ship just as always when Slippy got into trouble. "Slippy stop being so cocky" Krystal said with a tone they had never heard before, a combination of anger and annoyance, Falco couldn't help but laugh. The fighters came wave after wave of four or more ships until they finally reached a carrier ship.

"There's ships everywhere!" Slippy cried out. Peppy gave his orders from The Great Fox helping the team out as much as possible "Falco, Slippy take the left side, Krystal and Fox, hit the right." and Fox took that order happily and closed in towards a carrier ship. He could see where the energy was stored, it glowed unlike the rest of the ship from so much power and he shot at it mercilessly, it didn't take many shots for the ship to go down and they headed for the next one. He did the same for each and every ship they saw until they regrouped again.

A new ship came down in front of him, it looked and moved like it were a person ad he hadn't seen any ship like it before. "What's th--?" He was cutoff by a huge energy shot at his ship and barely rolled in time to deflect it. The odd ship took shot after shot and Fox was about to give up before it finally blew up. He didn't have any time for a break after that as he flew towards more fleet ships taking them down one at a time.

Finally he could see past all of the chaos to Fortuna but he couldn't see Oikkony's ship anywhere. Slippy was working on getting their communications hooked up with the enemy too so they could hear their plan before he noticed on his radar something in front of the vulpine, something he couldn't see. "Got something on radar, dead ahead." He warned and went back to working on it before he finally succeeded. It was two cloaked ships unable to be seen until they attacked. Luckily the vulpine struck before the missile launchers could get ready and rapidly took them both down.

"Starfox is headed this way!" A new voice said before a familiar voice, the voice of Andrew said "Starfox eh? Work him over!" And with that more waves of ships came and he hoped they would lead them to Oikkony. Finally he could see it Oikkony's flagship. But before he could find the weak point of the ship he had taken off towards Fortuna, he sighed at his attempt to flee from them after noticing his defense was destroyed in a matter of minutes. Fox led his team into the atmosphere at a speed so high that the Arwings were fighting fire from the atmosphere, thankfully the ship's metal repelled the flames.

Finally getting down to the land on Fortuna he saw lush forests, unlike what he had seen in his previous trip. He knew Krystal thought it was a wonderful sight but hoped she would pay attention to the mission at hand more. Fox ordered for R.O.B. search for Oikkony and headed off searching for the ape. He soon found more fighters and knew he was going the right way.

He tried his hardest not to hit any birds with the Arwing, knowing the result could damage the Arwing before he knew it he heard another bird in trouble but it was Falco this time. "Fox help me these guys are all over me!" Fox silently took the three behind him down, and kept going where the ships and now land tanks led him. He soon found himself at a valley and noticed what looked like a shelf on the side, it didn't take him long to notice there were turrets inside it and shot them before they could do the same to him. R.O.B. told the team that they were nearing a base where Oikkony was hiding.

Fox quickly found the entrance and Krystal used her telepathy to warn the team that the enemy was waiting for them behind the gate. Fox worked his way through the center of the base while the others focused on the left and right sides, the base was just like an airport runway as they worked their way through destroying fighter ships, land vehicles and even fuel canisters. Finally they reached the end, another gate opened and they saw Oikkony's flagship again.

Fox chased Oikkony until he finally realized he was caught this time, cornered he went to his next plan. His ship turned and soon transformed into a large head with two hands, glowing circles on each palm. This was definitely a remake of Andross himself and even Falco teased him over it before they started the battle again. Fox quickly fired at the glowing circles on the palm putting the ship out of action, he fired so fast his Arwing's lasers were overheated afterwards.

The ape started to blabber about himself being the next emperor before a ship from above destroyed him, as soon as his ship was hit he cried out for his uncle. "What reinforcements?" Fox questioned before he saw what really destroyed Oikkony. It wasn't a ship it was a creature, a large one with eight wings, a purple glow and a body like none he had seen before almost making it look like an insect. "It can't be!" Peppy exclaimed at the creature before R.O.B. stated "Aparoid Aparoid!" "What's a--" Krystal let out a short scream as the creature shot a beam of energy at her interrupting Fox's question. He closed his eyes for a moment not even wanting to look back and expected the one he cared for so much to be one like that. Luckily she had avoided the beam and was okay. Fox commanded for them to return fire and started combat with the creature.

Fox noticed on the wings were eyes and he knew that was where he had to shoot, he fired repeatedly at the wings until they all fell off. The creature made a screech so loud and high pitched it hurt all their ears, even though they were incased in the ten inch thick glass of their cockpits. The creature flew back in the blink of an eye and used it's beam, which now he noticed as a beam of lava, to cut rocks out of the ground and slung them at him. Falco and Slippy were amazed and confused at the same time at how the creature could sling rocks without even touching them. Krystal had already seen magic used and was familiar with it by now so she didn't even second guess it's ability. Fox was too busy to wonder.

Fox avoided all of the rocks and soon it ran out of rocks to throw and went to another attack plan. Now the creature opened it's mouth which showed another glowing part of it's body giving it away as a weak point and Fox fired on it but suddenly it started shooting four unknown substances at him, he changed his target from the weak point to the missile-like objects heading toward him.

Fox kept a close eye on the enemy shields bar Slippy had shown him and kept firing, before he could get it down to zero the creature did another attack. It shot it's beam of lava straight at him and spreading it, the lava stayed in midair making it where Fox couldn't fly wherever it shot.

He messed up and his Arwing in one hit went to critical damage, sweating furiously he continued to fight with his full attention, ignoring whatever anyone said over comms. Finally the vulpine got his shot off and the creature fell to the ground, dead.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, laughing slightly that he had won. This creature put up a better fight than Oikkony and maybe even Andross, he was proud to say he had defeated one of these monsters, he expected he'd never see one again and even hoped that. "What's that?" Fox asked seeing some strange object fall from the creature.

"I don't believe it, Fox you have to get that!" Peppy ordered him and he landed to grab the object. "F-Fox!" Slippy cried out making the vulpine turn to see a whole group of these monsters flying towards them. He stumbled to grab the object and bolted into his Arwing, quickly flying with his team back to base to avoid more combat.

They all gasped in shock from the destruction of so many ships from that day, still floating as wreckage around Fortuna. "So were just going to leave it here?" Krystal asked "Nah someone will come in a few days to clean it up and recycle most of the metal." Fox told her as they finally landed on The Great Fox, Fox quickly stopped Slippy with a question "Slip, could you fix the lasers on my Arwing for some reason only one works." Slippy only nodded, smiling at the fact that the team really did need him.

Slippy finished his job in less than ten minutes and headed up to meet the rest of his team who had started the preparation for a celebration of a mission completion. Fox and Krystal spent most of the night celebrating before Fox asked her if she'd want to go down and look out at the scenery of space as they flew by.

When they finally were alone Krystal started to blush Fox could notice it this time and had no idea why she was. "Congratulations.." He said when they finally sat down beside each other. She only smiled and he knew she was up to something. "What's wrong?" He asked but she refused to answer until she finally said it after he bugged her for a few minutes. "I just think you did amazing and wanted to know how you think I did.." She laughed slightly at her nervousness on this. "Well you did better than Slippy and I wasn't counting kills but I'm sure you did as well if not better than Falco." He said honestly. Krystal was the only teammate she didn't have to rescue today which was new to him. His answer was rewarded by a quick kiss on the cheek making them both blush wildly. "I'm tired though so I'm gonna go to bed." She smiled and he got up with her, the mission had definitely made him tired as well

_-Author's Note: Back to writing now that the weekends over. Gee I wonder what this chapter came from, anyway's I have officially started on Assault now, Honestly I've been dreading this since I started thinking that this would be a total borefest. I didn't copy all of the quotes and all because A. I didn't see the need and B. I got tired of pressing pause to write, Hope you enjoy this more than I think people will and thank you for the views, comments and reviews they mean the world to me!-_

_References for this chapter: Starfox Assault._


	32. XXXII More Trouble

XXXII. More Trouble

"Fox, wait I have a question!" Krystal yelled out to the vulpine who was about to start his regular morning training. After yesterday he knew he needed as much training as possible but couldn't ignore the vixen's call for him. "Fox, why did you congratulate me last night?" She asked nervously. He wanted to make a joke about why didn't she say that last night but she was too busy with what she had to say. "Well I suppose that it was your first real mission with an Arwing and I just thought it'd be the right thing to say." He smiled at her which made her blush. "You mean all the other missions weren't big enough?" She asked with a smirk knowing that they had been through alot in the past year. "Well..Not exactly, I just meant.." He decided to end it there only making her laugh. His plans on training that morning weren't in his mind anymore, thirty minutes must have passed and they hadn't moved from the hall.

"Fox!" Falco yelled at him but he didn't seem to notice "Fox!" He yelled again this time snapping the vulpine out of his trance of talking with her. "What?!" He asked aggravated by his interruption. "We have another problem." Fox sighed and went to find Peppy and Slippy, Krystal quickly followed.

Fox was still slightly annoyed at the interruption from earlier and it didn't help him when he got to the bridge to hear that the Lylat System was in trouble once again. He was eager to help but wasn't sure what they were up against, when he heard that the problem this time were the aparoids his heart almost stopped thinking he would have to fight thousands if not millions of the creatures from the previous day. It didn't help when they were told a single aparoid destroyed a whole fleet a while ago. Starfox's mission was now to help a military base in distress on Katina.

Fox developed a plan in less than a few seconds, he had done ground training recently so he was sure he could handle the base if they covered him from above. The team was already close to Katina so they just flew by Arwing to the planet. The Great Fox followed close behind. Fox was slightly nervous expecting the worst enemies he had faced in the base but didn't dare show it, they finally arrived at Katina in less than an hour only to find the base deserted. He led the group towards the base "Peppy are you sure these are the right coordinates?" He asked slightly startled that the base hadn't been totally destroyed by now. "Yep, that's it and there's still a distress signal too." Fox then landed and headed towards the base on foot.

An eerie silence filled the base until he crossed a gate, an alarm went off and a countless number of creatures attacked him he knew they were a different kind of aparoid. Before they could hit him he rolled out of the way firing his blaster at them, noticing now how easy they were to kill. Peppy helped him find 2 of the larger Aparoids which took a charged shot to kill and he knew he was outnumbered then. "Peppy send me a Landmaster!" He ordered, Peppy didn't argue and sent him the tank through the teleportation system they had installed on the ship for these situations.

Fox groaned at his misfortune when the tank appeared in a swarm of aparoids and started mowing them down with nothing other than his single shot blaster. He took a bolt for the tank and got in, just barely beating the aparoids. As soon as he closed the hatch he could see one of the legs from and aparoid torn off on it, he only chuckled and ran over the remaining few like a maniac. He was enjoying the slaughter before Krystal cried out for his aid. The vulpine sighed and looked up through the sights of the turret finding her and tried to shoot down the two following her. _"Can't Falco help her??!" _Is all he thought to himself as he tried and tried again to get a good shot off, finally getting them both on her third pass by him.

As soon as he was done helping her he was back to business, going after the targets crazily. The aparoids were everywhere and he found tons of them on the ramps guarding and only let out a smile as he used the tank's boost to go up the ramp running over almost twenty of them. He peered down at his shield gauge to find it at 50%, not from taking hits but from running over the giant bugs. "Maybe not such a good idea.." He sighed to himself and went off looking for more targets.

He started sweating more than he had in his life, even more than when he had flown over Solar, the Landmaster was definitely warmer than a furnace and had no air conditioning, he was boiling in the machine. Fox finally got down to one target left and found it, all by itself on the wall surrounding the base. He charged at it before about fifteen aparoids appeared out of nowhere in front of it "These things just keep appearing!" He yelled in anger as he launched a charged shot in the middle of them killing them all.

"There mission accomplished." He said proudly, wiping the sweat from his forehead and opening the hatch of the tank. Before he could climb out he saw more aparoids falling from the sky like they were raindrops. Fox groaned and got back into the tank while Peppy told him what he knew about the new targets. They could spawn more aparoids and the longer he took now the worse it got.

He had focused in on killing the new targets until Slippy cried out for his help, again. He was being chased yet again, this time by three enemies, Fox used the tank's hovering ability to get on top of a building and fired the three out of the sky almost instantly. Being inside the tank for so long helped him get used to all of the controls and he now was flying by at an unbelievable pace.

Krystal used her telepathy to help Fox locate the other targets, they were inside the buildings, he killed a few more of the annoying smaller bugs by running them over on his way towards the entrance. He didn't have time to try and open the door so he just used the tanks cannon to destroy it. All he had to do was place a sensor bomb in the middle of the room and run for cover, when the target spawned more aparoids they all blew and amused him at how dumb the creatures must be. Finally all of the targets were destroyed until Peppy alerted him that there was one more. As soon as the vulpine got in the Landmaster he hovered only to get hit by Krystal's ship, the tank almost was destroyed instantly and it tore off Krystal's right wing. "Peppy I'm going to need another tank!" He yelled out before bailing out of the tank before the engine caught fire. In a matter of a few seconds another Landmaster appeared and he got into it and hunted for the last target.

He destroyed the final one easily and an uneasy feeling came over him. A beam shot down onto the base from the sky and a giant creature fell down, almost as big as the base itself. He had no time to think about what to do so he opened fire on the giant aparoid, shooting where it's face seemed to be, it was incredibly small compared to the body. "Fox hit the underside!" Krystal ordered him and then he saw it where the creature's weak point was.

He fired rapidly at the weak spot watching it crackle with electricity as he shot it, soon it fell to the ground. He wiped the sweat from his forehead again thinking it was over but Krystal ordered him to hover onto the top of the monster, apparently it was only stunned. The creature was like a platform, almost perfectly flat and perfect for this situation. Soon energy started forming under him he barely noticed and rolled out of the way before it shot, shooting a weak point that was an eye on top of it's body. It made a shriek in pain as he continued firing and tried it's hardest to shake him off, almost succeeding, his team was cheering him on unable to help him here.

Finally the creature fell dead and the Landmaster slid off, Fox got out of the vehicle and went towards it to retrieve the core memory it had, which he remembered contained vital information about the homeworld of the aparoids. Before he could get up to get it the distress signal came to a halt and an old enemy flew out of the base, grabbing the memory and leaving before they could chase him down. It was Pigma the one who had betrayed his father so many years ago and also a member of Star Wolf.

He furiously went back to his Arwing to fly back to base so they could track him down, the only reason Pigma took it was for money and Fox had to get it back. Peppy had a radar fixed on Pigma but the signal faded away in the asteroid belt leaving them with no leads. When the crew landed, instead of celebrating a small victory they were silent, the theft ruined the whole mission for them. Fox avoided Krystal until he could shower knowing that he had been drenched in sweat the whole day but she had a question for him.

"So that was Pigma huh?" She asked him when they finally were alone "Yeah, he's the one who betrayed my father or cash and now he's taken our only full core memory for cash too." He sighed, Krystal tried to crack a smile from him but it did no good here. "Well he looks like he's a terrible pilot." She assured him that they would get it back but the vulpine didn't buy that and headed for bed early, slightly bruised from the day's work.

_-Author's Note: Had to hurry up this chapter not much to say except I'll be glad when I get assault done with. Hardly any room for creativity. Thank for reading hope you enjoyed it, thanks for the reviews and PM's! -_

_References for this chapter: Starfox Assault_


	33. XXXIII Trying to Find Pigma

XXXIII. Trying to Find Pigma

Fox had easily slipped into a deep sleep after the previous day's action, taking him from the stress of a war to a paradise. The vulpine rarely dreamed, and when he did they always seemed to end up being terrible. He was on Sauria sitting next to a ruined temple talking with Krystal, he didn't know why but the dream left him with a happy feeling. "Fox.." Krystal said but he then realized it wasn't his dream, she was trying to nudge him awake. "Fox, get up we've found where Pigma is!" He could only groan in annoyance, not wanting to wake up for anything right now. It was slightly funny to him that when they didn't have a mission he was bored usually but when they did he wanted a day off. "Fox!" She yelled this time, his eyes opened wide and his ears went back at the sound. "Fine, fine. Let me get ready." He grumbled, rolling off of the bed and stumbling into the shower.

"How do we know he's here?" Fox asked when he got to the bridge ten minutes later, wearing the usual uniform for him. "Well this is where the last ping we got from him on radar was." Peppy said with a smile. "So is this Wolf's hideout?" The base they stared out at was in space just outside an asteroid field. "Them and a whole group of criminals" Peppy said making Slippy shiver. They decided it would be best to contact the base and ask if Pigma was there, knowing that the outcome would probably be them not answering.

When they contacted the base they were speaking with someone they hadn't met before, claiming to work for a "Lord O'Donell" After asking for Pigma it only got worse as the criminals in the hideout got more troops and even battleships neared the base on their radar. Time wasn't on their side so Fox decided they needed to take control of the base to get Pigma and the core memory back. Fox came out with an idea of having Slippy with him inside the base while Krystal and Falco took care of the battleships, Fox would have his Arwing nearby if they needed help. Krystal and Falco were good pilots so that plan worked perfectly in his head and he thought they wouldn't need his help at all.

Before they could all takeoff Krystal stopped Fox whispering in his ear "Please be safe" And then kissing him on his cheek making him blush for a moment before he focused on what they needed to do. Slippy and Fox flew into the base on opposite sides trying to plan on one taking out the left and the other taking out the right, Falco and Krystal flew around the base scouting out what the base had through the windows before finding their first target. The two in space broke from scouting and opened fire on the first battleship to appear while Fox and Slippy took care of whatever they found inside.

As soon as he got out of his Arwing Fox was ambushed from all sides by four guards, he ducked down when they fired making them shoot each other. "Hopefully that's the intelligence all of these guys have." He muttered to himself and headed off for whatever enemy he could find next. Turning the corner the vulpine saw something familiar a transfer device and he ordered that they were the targets for the mission, the transfer devices could teleport infantry and vehicles from another area into the base.

On Slippy's side he only found one enemy, a transfer device and destroyed it, it only took two charged shots to destroy. He then charged up the steps and found 2 enemy turrets. By the time Fox had reached the first set of stairs on his side they had setup a machine that spat out barrels of fuel that rolled down the stairs leaving him no way up without injury. The time he had spent on Sauria had helped him for this situation, he always had to avoid barrels rolling down hills or even being thrown at him. He jumped over the barrel and got a shot on the machine on top of the stairs destroying it instantly. The fox was frustrated when he saw Slippy on the same platform as him when he got up the stairs. Slippy was fighting a turret and three guards and Fox decided to lend him a hand.

He shot a large fuel barrel on a post and yelled for Slippy to take cover, the explosion made a loud noise that could be heard all over the base and popped their ears from being so close. Fox didn't say anything to the toad and headed up the next flight of stairs destroying two more transfer devices. As soon as he walked into a hallway the doors locked shut from his end and atleast forty troops charged in from the other side, the vulpine didn't panic and grabbed a machine gun from a fallen enemy and mowed them all down in a few seconds.

Slippy found a computer on the bottom floor and put his skills to use, finding out how many transfer devices they had setup. "Fox there are only four left." Was all he needed to say for the vulpine to smile and Slippy gave him the locations of them as he went on to destroy them. "There's one on the bottom floor next to the elevator hidden behind some boxes." Slippy told the vulpine and he went to destroy it quickly before Krystal interrupted them "Fox this is getting ut of hand we need your help for a minute" He groaned and quickly got to his Arwing knowing if they got overrun they wouldn't be able to leave.

As soon as he launched he was being chased by four heat seeking missiles and he realized the severity of their situation on the space front. Nearly ten battleships surrounded the base and the vulpine didn't hesitate, he opened fire on the battleships before taking out the fighters that they had already launched not even taking a moment to recognize a weakpoint but firing at the same place he had fired on the ships from two days ago.

Krystal and Falco joined with him to help takeout the battleships, with three ships they could easily takeout each one with a single run. In less than a minute they had taken out all of the battleships and Fox quickly flew back into the hideout to join with Slippy who was still waiting on him, leaving the fighters for Falco and Krystal.

"Second floor left hallway" Slippy told Fox where the next device was and he got to the hallway threw a grenade in and headed for the next one. "The rest are on the top floor you'll need to use the elevator." Fox stopped in his tracks trying to remember where the elevator had been.

He finally found it only to be ambushed by another group of troops. He tried his hardest to avoid their fire but still took a couple shots, luckily their weapons weren't very powerful and one shot wouldn't kill him. He waited impatiently as the elevator slowly reached the top floor, the elevator wasn't closed in so he was shot at by other soldiers on the way up. Finally he got to the top only to be shot a few times by a turret and ten troops, he pulled out his machine gun as fast as he could and took them down before kneeling down for a moment to try and recover from the burns he got from the lasers.

The walls of the top floor hallway were made from glass so he could see the battle outside going on while he sat there. The team had heard a dead silence from him for now two minutes and had seen his signal on radar standing still, Krystal tried using he telepathy to see if he was even alive but there were so many people around all she could get were thoughts from other people. "Fox are you alright?" She finally broke the silence. "Yeah..Agh... Yea I'm fine." He groaned as he got up and got back to his duty, on the bright side there were only two left. He destroyed one target in the hallway and another in the control room. Finally, they could search for where Pigma was hiding in the base without interruption from gunfire.

"You idiots." A familiar voice said, Fox noticed three ships coming towards the base and realized the voice was Wolf himself. Fox expected it to be Leon,Wolf and Pigma but there was a new third person in this time, Fox already disliked him just by the way he sounded. "I am Panther and all who see my rose meet death" He snarled, Fox didn't want this to happen but couldn't change it now they had to fight Wolf, Leon and their new member.

Fox got into his Arwing as fast as he could and headed out towards them, they split up going after Falco and Krystal. Fox decided to go after the new member first to test his skills, make a statement and because he was going after Krystal. Fox tried with single shots at first but the new guy barrel rolled to deflect the attack over and over. He now knew he had to lock on. He didn't do any loops so it was easy to get two locked shots off putting his shields down to 20%. He only did a U-turn to try and avoid the next one but the vulpine quickly locked on. "How could this be I-I."Was all he could get out before his ship lost power, he struggled trying to fly his ship into the base while it was still moving.

Fox moved onto the next target, Leon. Before he could get a lock Krystal almost screamed for help she was being chased by five ships and Wolf. Fox shot a bomb way behind her to make sure it wouldn't hurt her Arwing, it successfully took out the other ships and left only Wolf chasing her. "You really have a thing for saving this one don't you" Wolf said before he somersaulted behind him and took a couple locked shots on him. Fox had fallen into the Wolf's trap and now was paying for it with his engine barely going. He couldn't catch Wolf or Leon as they sped by and went for his teammates.

Fox got an idea to save them and told his team to fly close to him, Krystal flew around the vulpine hoping to draw Wolf but they only broke off to go for Falco. Luckily Falco had an idea and took a sharp left right before flying into an asteroid. Leon and Wolf couldn't see the floating rock until it was too late and both smashed into it destroying Leon's ship and leaving Wolf's in critical condition. Fox took a shot on Wolf's ship as he flew back at Falco, putting him out of action. Fox smiled at their victory, knowing that none of the three were hurt physically, but their pride had been damaged severely after the fight.

"Enough of this just hand over Pigma already" Fox demanded only to have the whole victory brought down by Wolf's story "Pigma's no longer part of Star Wolf, he sold our team's weapons for a profit personally and we kicked him out when we found out." The vulpine pounded the dashboard of his Arwing in anger. His anger was turned from Pigma to something else when Krystal asked "Then where did Pigma go?" Panther had already flown out in a new ship and answered her only by flirting with her. Fox had never been this angry before now but tried his best to hide it."The lovely Krystal, I am Panther Caroso and here's to us." Is all he said at first, words never affected the vulpine but something blew when he heard someone talking to Krystal that way.

"Who's this idiot" Falco laughed at what Panther had said finding it stupid yet hilarious and knowing Fox would likely kill him over it. "Just tell us where Pigma is." Krystal tried to get an answer and succeeded. "How can I resist this beauty? I think the com record will point you toward Fichina." Wolf commanded for his team to leave with whatever dignity they had left.

"Come on get back to base everyone!" Peppy ordered and Slippy headed out of the base following Falco and Slippy to The Great Fox while Fox sat there for a moment trying to figure out what just happened. He showed up slightly late to find Krystal waiting for him sitting on her Arwing.

"Someone's mad"She smirked as he got out, still feeling pain from the burns. "What?!" He jumped hoping that she hadn't used her telepathy against him there but she did. "When Panther was saying all that crap i read your thoughts without trying, you were so mad." She laughed. He only blushed "well yeah...I mean you're my teammate and.." "It's fine I didn't like all of that he said anyway's, I found it slightly disturbing." He only smiled and decided to end that conversation there.

She then saw his wounds from the laser fire from earlier. "Ew,when did that happen?" She gasped as she pushed his shirt aside to show even more burns. "When I got up the elevator I got ambushed, it's nothing really." he assured her but she wouldn't leave it there and she took his arm and puled him to Peppy for first aid whether he wanted it or not.

As soon as Fox was tended to he went off to sleep, early like the previous night hoping his dreams would be similar.

_-Author's note: Keyboards glitching today so if you find any weird typos please notify me, I think i found them all, anyways same as last night can't wait to get Assault over with and also tonight I decided to modify the mission slightly as you notice, hopefully I can manage to do this with all of them. Thanks for reading!-_


	34. XXXIV Frozen Hell

XXXIV. Frozen Hell

"Fichina huh? I haven't heard of that place since science class." Falco laughed "Isn't it like a deserted wasteland of snow and ice?" "Yeah." Fox laughed "But they built a climate control center so it's bearable, you'd know that if you paid attention." Slippy laughed loudly remembering how the avian barely passed and Krystal even let out a giggle. "Okay so how are we going to do this?" Fox asked Peppy who pounded away at a keyboard. "Well it seems the climate control center has broken down, there's a raging blizzard down there."

"R.O.B. What's the temperature down there?" Fox asked before the robot lit up and stated "Negative one hundred and fifty two degrees." The vulpine shivered just hearing that number, he had never heard of a temperature so low, even though the sun wasn't up yet. "What could Pigma want down there?!" Falco blurted out furious that they were in this situation. "He's probably the one who messed with the climate control center" Fox said "We need to hurry and get it fixed or this planet will be barren again."

"You mean people live here?" Falco laughed "Some people are just crazy."

"We can't fly our Arwings in this weather for long, the temperature will make a mess of them and we wouldn't see a thing thanks to that blizzard!" Slippy cried out "Okay then I'll take the Landmaster down and try to fix the center it shouldn't be too hard right?" Falco only sighed at the vulpine's courageous plan. "Fine by me I hate the cold" He finally snorted.

"That will work." Peppy thought through the idea only to find a flaw. "But how are you going to get down there Fox? You can't take your Arwing." Fox thought about it for a moment before he came up with a crazy idea. "How low could we fly this thing to Fichina?" He asked making Slippy punch in the numbers. "Not low enough for the Landmaster's engines to hover down." "That's not what I'm thinking." Fox smiled "Fox, you're crazy if you're thinking of.." Falco laughed even though he knew the vulpine was pondering about what he thought he was. "Well I don't have any other ideas..." Fox couldn't help but laugh at the stupidity of his plan was but he had no other.

"What is he thinking of?" Peppy asked "Skydiving" Fox chuckled only making the hare's eyes go wide. "Not even your father was this crazy." He finally said after thinking the situation through. "Well he could test out my new invention." Slippy smiled.

"And what's that?" Fox asked still trying to laugh off his stupid idea. "Well I've been making clothing for extremely cold conditions ever since you were on the mountains at Sauria." Fox sat there for a moment trying to let the idea of what he was considering go through his mind. "So what's the worst that can happen to him?" Krystal asked. "It could be too cold for the parachute to open, he could freeze to death, mess up and smack into the ground or a bunch of other things." Fox gulped hearing the possibilities, Krystal cringed slightly thinking about it too.

"Slippy how well should your new invention work?" Fox asked "It should keep you safe but I've been wrong before." "Give it here." Fox ordered "I'll use it anyways, it's too cold down there." Slippy headed off for the room Slippy had that held all of his inventions and utilities. "Here it is." Slippy smiled proudly handing the vulpine the two pieces of clothing. It was like a white sweatsuit but much warmer.

The vulpine put on the clothing and headed back with everyone "Fox it's only minus twenty right now you'd better hurry before it gets colder." Slippy said when he was in sight. "Alright, Peppy start into the planet's atmosphere" Fox demanded and Krystal pulled him out in the hall. "You're the craziest person I know." She said angrily making him laugh slightly "Well it took someone as crazy as me to save you." This didn't seem to help her calm down. "I'll be okay, I can't think of another way to get down there." "Just please be careful."She begged for the second time before a mission, this time clenching onto him making him jump back in shock for a moment. A few moments later he patted the back of her head making her snap back into reality and break away from him.

As soon as the vulpine came back into the room Slippy gave him a parachute and some goggles"these will help you see through the blizzard." He said and handed over more items to him like a mother would while packing for a child for a sleepover. The whole team followed him to the hangar to see how this went and to pester him until he finally jumped. He looked over the side and could see clouds under him making his heart pound, he had done this before but not in extreme conditions like this.

"Five bucks he chickens out.." Falco whispered to Slippy followed by a much louder "You're on!" Fox was about to jump when he was stopped by Falco in a last effort to win the bet "Wait! If you die can I rename the team Star Falco?" Fox laughed slightly and said the first thing that popped into his mind other than no. "Sorry, but if I die R.O.B. will be the team owner." And with that joke he leapt over the side and into the cold air that hit him like a freight train chilling his bones.

The vulpine laughed loudly in the excitement of seeing everything flying by him so fast, Krystal was calmed slightly by hearing the vulpine enjoying the jump. The vulpine's heart was pounding and he tried to fight the wind and pull the chute. Finally he grabbed it and it worked "This would be so much fun if I wasn't freezing my tail off." Fox said easing the tension of the team only watching in fear for his life.

Fox saw the white landmass come closer and closer until he was about to finally land. Before he could land on his feet a wind gust bobbled him around and he hit into the soft snow with a loud "Oomf"

"Fox?!" Slippy yelled out. As the vulpine looked around him seeing how high the snow was, it was atleast up to seven feet. "I'm fine." The vulpine shivered slightly. Krystal finally settled down now that the episode was over "Fox look for the climate control center, you should be close by." Peppy ordered and the vulpine found it easily, observing it with his binoculars now."Yeah I see it now." He looked for an entrance, finding one but it was blocked. Fox looked for a new way but a moment later a shield formed over the center.

"There's a shield, is there any way we can take it down?" "Negative, unless there are generators outside." Peppy sighed followed by Fox, "I'll search for what I can, see if you can get any info on it." Fox was pleasantly surprised to find a Landmaster already waiting on him making him think for a moment. "Wait how did we get this tank down here?" "Slippy sent it last night." Peppy answered "Wait a second then why didn't you just send me in one today?!" Fox sighed at not thinking of using the teleportation system on himself.

"There's bad side effects that can occur when teleporting people like this" Slippy answered making the vulpine feel less like the reckless plan went in vain. "Fox, there's three generators near you look for large towers." Krystal ordered and Fox nodded, hopped in the tank and went about his business.

Fox found a large tower nearby and went to destroy it finding the power supply and taking it out. The Landmaster's heat was helping him this time and made Slippy's new invention unbearable to wear, Fox took it off and wore his normal clothing while inside the tank still finding it burning hot somehow.

As soon as he took out the first generator a group of Aparoids swarmed him, the cannon on the tank easily took them down one at a time and the weight took out the rest of them when he drove overtop of them.

Fox quickly found the second through the harsh blizzard and made quick work of it. "I can hardly see a thing down here." He muttered before his radar popped up. "Thank goodness." He sighed as he quickly made his way through a wave of a hundred aparoids to the next one.

"There done." He said before going to the climate control center, making his way inside. He walked up to the huge computer and started trying to type something in, whatever he hit worked and Slippy cheered "Fox you did it!" But the mission was only beginning as an alarm went off loudly blaring and giving him a headache quickly. "Fox are you okay?" Krystal asked hearing the siren coming from his end but he didn't respond. "Fox?!" Falco butted in "I'm fine but there seems to be a problem. The sentry bots seem to have a thing for me" Is all he said before Falco headed for his Arwing to help out, he couldn't stand sitting and waiting.

"Falco what are you doing?! The Arwing won't last an hour out there!" Slippy yelled but the avian didn't care and flew off. "Fox ran from the sentry bots until they tried to attack him then he shot at them when their armor had opened. To his luck they couldn't see him and he could avoid them until Falco flew in shooting the Arwing's laser at them leaving them in pieces.

Falco tried to land inside to pick up the vulpine and almost crashed while trying to land in such a small area. "Climb aboard!" The falcon ordered and the vulpine pondered it for a second before deciding after what he had done today why not. He climbed onto the wing of his Arwing and tried to hang on, luckily the cold weather made his feet freeze to the metal.

"Fox use this!" Falco said and pulled out a plasma cannon, a weapon used by the Cornerian Military for taking out aircraft. "Where'd you--" The vulpine stopped as a wave of flying Aparoids came after them

The vulpine shot the weapon and it knocked him on his tail. "Fox don't fall!" Falco cried out and the vulpine pulled himself up "This gun has too much recoil!" He complained for the first time in a long time.

"We're on our way" Krystal and Slippy said as the two flew around the center destroying as many Aparoids as they could. "Fox get the one on the ground! It's got a lock on me and I can't break it with you on." Falco said and Fox aimed the cannon and shot at the target trying to keep his aim and balance, the recoil was like nothing he had experienced before.

Finally the vulpine got a hang of the gun and took out as many as possible and tried to cover Slippy as he cried for help again and again. "They have good weaponry for a bunch of annoying bugs." Fox laughed as he shot down missiles following them.

"There I've transferred an Arwing for you Fox." Peppy said and Falco started towards the Arwing on radar. "Fox I checked those bots out and they were aparoids!" Slippy cried out. "Wait does that mean Aparoids can take over machines" "Yep and the one who's pulling the strings is me Pigma!" Pigma yelled over them and laughed like a maniac. Falco pursued Pigma shooting him a couple times before landing for Fox to get in his Arwing.

Before they could get into battle with the swine the Aparoids had contaminated a large tower and it popped out of the ground. "Fox deal with Pigma later if that thing blows the whole climate control center will go up!" Peppy yelled making Fox groan and turn his fire to the tower that was now spitting out more aparoids. As soon as the vulpine had a clear shot into the hatch he fired a bomb into it and it fell to the ground but found strength to pop up again.

As soon as the vulpine fired the second bomb Falco had joined him and both of the bombs destroyed the tower instantly. "That didn't hurt the control center did it?" Fox asked "No it's working fine, hurry back we need to catch Pigma!" Peppy ordered and they all headed back to the Great Fox chasing after the swine.

_-Author's Note: Ran out of time tonight, wanted to get two chapters done due to my inactivity but I could only manage this for tonight, hopefully I'll get a couple tommorow. All reviews comments constructive criticism is appreciated, ended this chapter very quickly so I'm sorry about that one but it's 6 in the morning. Enjoy!-_


	35. XXXV Krystal Snaps

XXXV. Krystal Snaps

"I swear I'm going to kill that hog when we find him!" Falco almost yelled, the team hadn't gotten out of their Arwings after the battle on Fichina to save as much time as possible. Fox only yawned in response, he had been up atleast 24 hours straight now and it was taking a toll on him.

Just like that the vulpine conked out in his cockpit. About as quickly as he had fallen asleep he woke up by a yell "Fox!" "What?!" He yelled back but only awkward silence fell afterwards "I didn't say anything." Falco muttered finally and the vulpine noticed that Slippy was staring at him like he was crazy and Krystal was laughing.

Her laughing made him blush "Someone must be tired" She laughed not helping him but bringing a smile to the rest of the team's faces. "Don't fall asleep or people will think you're crazy just like that." She said again but this time the voice was inside his head telling him what and who the first yell was from.

A few moments later he caught the vixen staring at him but whenever he looked back she would smile then look away. The next time she decided to stare she wasn't aware of where she was going and ended up bumping into Fox slightly. "Sidetracked Krystal?" Fox asked keeping back his laughter while Falco joined in "I guess Fox isn't so great on teaching people to fly after all." She only blushed and laughed with them making sure she did no harm to their ships.

Fox kept a careful eye on Krystal and even flew as close as possible to her and then backed away at the last moment before they made contact. "Stop it Fox!" Krystal laughed at his attempts to annoy her. "Hey you too pay attention please were headed towards trouble." Falco barked and the vulpine noticed a familiar ship, it was abandoned. A closer look proved to them that they were Wolfens, Star Wolf's team had been here and whatever happened to them wasn't pretty.

"So are they dead?" "No I can sense faint brain patterns they must've abandoned." Krystal answered Slippy's question. "But how.." The vulpine started but was interrupted when they were ambushed by a few ships from behind the large rocks. "Come on that hog must be near!" Fox said and they all went in trying to follow a path of enemies.

"There's alot of enemies nearby I can feel it!" Krystal exclaimed as they fought their way through the enemies in their path "How can there be more than this, we've killed atleast a hundred already!" Falco complained. His complaint was closely followed by another yell "Fox I let my guard down get these two!"

Fox smiled slightly knowing this was Falco's normal mistakes and shot the two following him "You're welcome." He chuckled before flying past all three of them and charging at whatever came next.

Before he could blink his shields were dropping but he wasn't getting shot. "What the.." "Fox roll!" Peppy yelled and the vulpine noticed weird aparoids latched onto his Arwing and damaging it easily.

"There.." He sighed before he looked up "Oh heck.." Was all he could say before ten asteroids shot at him, Pigma must've rigged them with something to make them shoot at enemies as they flew by due to they took after him in a heartbeat.

He finally got a chance to catch his breath when Krystal cried out for him "Fox!! Help!" He sighed and chased after her trying to get whatever was on her tail. "Krystal! Slow down!" He yelled trying to catch up but finding himself unable to keep up with his Arwing damaged. He had no other option but to shoot and hope he didn't hit her.

_"One down...Two down...Oh no.." _He thought to himself as he saw Krystal's Arwing hit by one of his shots making her spin out of control. His heart pounded and felt like it was about to burst from his rib cage. "Krystal!" He yelled and shot down the third and final enemy behind her. She managed to gain control of the Arwing a few moments later bringing him a sigh of relief "Are you okay?" He asked "I'm just dizzy but I'll be fine. Thank you Fox." She smiled and so did he even though they couldn't see each other.

"A base huh?" Falco asked as they came upon a space base and entered the only entrance they could find. "Pigma never skips a beat." Peppy laughed making the vulpine slightly angry, bringing back the thoughts of him being the one who betrayed his father. "Okay just enter here I guess." Fox said before watching the entrance close "What is this a dead end?!" Fox growled as he watched it close unable to stop it or himself from flying into the door. "To your left!" Peppy ordered and the vulpine noticed the hole in the wall and flew through.

"Just like Pigma to not check everything for flaws too." Falco sighed with relief "I'm sensing something big dead ahead!" Krystal exclaimed "Good that's what I'm hoping for." The vulpine smiled as he led them towards the exit of the base.

"Oh crud I guess he did think this out!" Falco yelped as he saw the next door closing fast in front of them. Fox smiled as he saw another way under them "Under us." He said coolly and flew through. "Pigma's up ahead, proceed with caution you never know what he could be hiding." Peppy warned them "Understood." Is all the fox said as he flew out with the rest of his team.

"What the?! Pigma's ship?" Fox asked "Over there Fox!" Krystal pointed to Pigma standing out in the middle of space. "How?!" Was all he could ask before Pigma turned into an aparoid monster.

"Do not resist. Join us." Was all Pigma said to them as the vulpine flew in to attack him. "Guys back off. He's mine." Fox barked wanting this revenge now for ten years but now he wasn't sure if it even was the real Pigma or not.

"Fine..Fine.." Falco said as he backed up "Fox.." was all Krystal could mutter feeling burning anger in his emotions. "Fox are you crazy?!" Peppy said but Fox was ignoring them now. He turned into somewhat of a savage animal and attacked the monster Pigma was with haste.

Eight metal arms surrounded the circular metal body he had now and Fox knew what he had to take out first. The arms.

They bent in towards his center and then wielded weapons from machine guns to missile launched and even some of them threw asteroids at him. The team felt slightly worthless to the vulpine while he attacked quickly destroying the weapons on the arms to reveal the weaker part of them. Soon he shot them enough to make them fall off of the metal body and float off into space.

"Good job Fox!" Krystal exclaimed thinking he was dead now but Fox knew it wasn't over. Her telepathy quickly felt a sudden dramatic increase of energy in Pigma and she warned Fox about it. His heart was pounding his breathing became heavy as he waited in suspense for Pigma to use his next strategy.

The face of Pigma now showed from the center as it opened a hatch, his face was enlarged to the side of three Arwings and more. Out of his mouth came an energy blast that he aimed at Fox. "Heh..Can't anyone do anything original!" Falco complained as he watched the vulpine dodge the beam easily and he opened fire on the hogs face.

It hadn't been fifteen seconds before the monster before them exploded. Fox had worn his lasers out and smoke was easily seen out of them. He had fired more in one minute than most should be able to do in five out of his rage and he now sat there motionless thinking to himself.

"Fox.." Krystal finally said as he just sat there still and didn't even respond to her as he normally did. "H-he's finally...Dead.." The vulpine stuttered to say. "Fox are you okay?" She asked again but he just kept silent and flew back the way they came, way ahead of everyone else. "Fox you forgot the core..Grr..Nevermind I'll get it you two go make sure Fox is okay." She ordered and they quickly followed the vulpine.

Krystal grabbed the core memory and quickly flew back to base to see what was troubling the vulpine.

"I cannot believe you just did that!" Peppy came after the vulpine like a father over a disobedient boy, but quickly noticed the vulpine's mixed thoughts about what he did himself by his actions. "I don't know what came over me." The vulpine stated "But I am glad he's dead finally." He laughed slightly and the hare smiled slightly knowing that the vulpine had lost everything from that pig.

"I'm calling it an early night." The vulpine said loudly so everybody could hear it, never noticing Krystal walking towards him as he left. "Fox!" She called out for him but by the time she did she heard the water running from his shower and decided to wait for him instead of giving up.

"Krystal?! What the?!" He jumped seeing the vixen sitting on his bed waiting for him, luckily he had changed into boxers before walking out. She let out a whistle playfully at his bare chest making him blush and making her laugh. "What do you want? Other than to harass me." He said with a smile creeping onto his face.

"Well I was afraid something was wrong with you. I've never seen you like that before." She managed to say as the vulpine sat down next to her. She was afraid to say much more and didn't want to anger the vulpine.

"I don't really know." He sighed and laid back revealing a rather large bruise on his leg to her. "You've been pushing yourself too hard." She said without thinking at the sight of the bruise then it didn't take long for her to find another one. "You need a vacation." She smiled at him getting no response for a moment, the thought sounded nice to him but he knew better.

"I can't just take a vacation when we're at war with a group of bugs." He laughed slightly at the thought of that sentence. "Well it won't be long." She assured him but he only sighed "If I even make it." She gasped at his statement even if it was a joke. "You not make it?" She laughed slightly and the thought of him actually dying sent chills down her spine but she tried to hide it.

"You're the best pilot and leader I know." She smiled and laid back with him looking in his eyes. "What the? Is that a tear in your eye?" He only jumped back and shut his eyes "I'm just tired." He replied. "You know you can't hide it from me of all people." She teased using her telepathy to her advantage.

The vulpine was thinking about his life and how it had gone, she felt alot of regret in him but the biggest one concerned her. He groaned at her and rolled over and pretended to snore while he waiting for the vixen to make a response or motion, she had been stuck reading his thoughts for a few minutes now.

She pushed him playfully but didn't expect what happened next. The vulpine let out a yelp of surprise and crashed onto the floor. "What was that for?" He groaned and got up before picking her up and setting her on the floor.

"Fine I guess I'll just leave then." She said before he tried to stop her the door opened Falco and Slippy were outside. "Oohh..Fox messed up.." Slippy laughed after hearing the vixens comment making them both blush. Both of them were angry enough that everytime they had a private moment they were interrupted by them but also the reason for them being there was meaningless.

"So are we going to call General Pepper about this tommorow?" Is all they had to ask and it was a quite obvious question. "Yea Slip, is that it?" "Yep. Night Foxie!" Falco laughed. Fox turned off the lights and sighed flopping in the bed. "Goodnight Fox." A voice in his head said, Krystal was using her telepathy as usual. "Goodnight Krystal." He said even though he knew she couldn't hear him. "I love you." Also slipped out of the vulpine's mouth before he passed out.

Unlike what the vulpine had thought the vixen was still in the room with a smile from ear to ear. She crept out of the room quietly and headed to bed herself thinking of the vulpine and unable to sleep for many hours due to the thoughts. The vixen even dreamt of Fox

_"I can't stand this anymore. I have heard him say how he feels numerous amounts of times but we don't move forward, I know i told him to wait but I just can't stand this much longer." _Were the vixen's thoughts when she had woken up before they were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Krystal! Bridge! Now!" Falco yelled, she yelled back "Coming!" and quickly dressed for a casual day, hoping for a day off.

"We've retrieved the core memory finally, been all over Lylat for it." Fox said proudly holding up the item. "Good work Star Fox, bring it to Corneria and we'll send you and the rest of our army to their homeworld!" The General seemed pleased from their work. "And straight to a vacation!" Falco chirped in.

Fox heard a weird sound from Krystal beside of him and turned to her. "Krystal?" She was head down on the table crying. "Fox..The-They're.." She tried to say as she choked. He rubbed her shoulder and tried to comfort her but it wouldn't help much. "What's happening?" Falco asked before Fox glared over silencing everyone.

"F-F-Fox t-th-the aparoids they-they're attacking.." Was all she could manage out leaving everyone confused. "Where?" He asked trying to get her to tell him what she had to say. "They're at Sauria!" She finally yelled out.

"Peppy get us to Sauria as fast as possible!" Fox yelled out. General Pepper sat in awe at the vulpine's decision. "Fox can't you get that memory to us first?" He asked but by then the vulpine closed the call and tried to calm the vixen.

"It'll be okay. We'll help them." He told her and she leaned her head on his chest. Peppy smiled and Slippy even smiled at the sight "Aww.." Was all Slippy could manage. "Slip you're going soft on me." Falco joked and hit his shoulder as the two left.

"Peppy try to get information on the battle there." Fox commanded as he smiled at the vixen who had now cried herself to sleep. He thought he was staring at an angel and didn't dare disturb her by moving.

"Oh my.." He heard Peppy say and it brought him down from the happiness of the moment to the battle ahead. "Here's a look at the zone where the aparoids are spawning from." Peppy said bringing a map on the screen and showing atleast 12 hatchers. "Great.." He sighed and the vixen was woken up by the noise. "How long will it be before we get there?" She asked sleepily. "About an hour so you all need to start getting ready, this might be our toughest fight against these monsters yet." Peppy said and with that they both staggered back to their rooms, not able to look away from each other's eyes until they were out of sight.

Fox came back to the bridge half an hour later equipped with a blaster, grenades, a machine gun and a heat seeking missile launcher. "Someone's ready for war." Falco scoffed. "Yeah I'm prepared so what." Fox replied making the avian laugh. "You only forgot the war paint."

"Okay here's the plan.. Falco, Slippy you're in the air. Krystal you're with me since you know the planet well." Fox said and they all nodded "Don't screw it up for us in the air Slip-up." Falco joked but only got back glares this time making him laugh to himself slightly.

"Okay you guys need to take off now." Peppy alerted them and they headed to launch. "Finally a real mission together" Krystal smiled at him trying to fight back the sadness of what happened to her now favorite planet. "Yeah.." He chuckled. "Come on you two!" Falco interrupted and they all flew out to Sauria

Fox landed and headed straight into a cave and found two hatchers immediately. "Got two already!" He smiled wide "Got one." Krystal said following him. "Falco Slippy make sure you keep the skies under control, if you need it I can be up there ASAP." Fox said, hoping he wouldn't have to leave the surface. "Gotcha, Slippy don't make a mess of things will you." Falco said as usual. "Falco shut your beak for once I--" "Will you idiots stop fighting we need to save Sauria!" Krystal interrupted with a tone of anger, unusual for them to hear.

"Ah!" Fox yelled out as he was shot this time it was a bullet instead of a laser and he immediately shot the aparoid and fell to the ground for a moment. He examined his knee and saw the wound "Not now.." He said to himself before getting up and pushing through the pain to run and destroy another hatcher. "Fox are you alright?" Krystal asked but he didn't respond for a moment. "Yeah I'm-ah- fine." He assured her but nobody bought it.

"Thank god!" He yelled out loud when he found a first aid box in the Landmaster as he got in and he bandaged the wound quickly and sloppily before being interrupted by Slippy "Help I'm being chased!" "Falco can't you handle this one?!" He yelled out in anger but saw the avian in trouble himself. He sighed and aimed to shoot down the flying Aparoids one by one with the Landmaster.

"I've never seen that tank used so well Fox!" Peppy proudly said and made the vulpine smile but he kept shooting. "Thanks Fox!" They both said at the same time.

He drove the Landmaster in an old ruined temple "Dang I've been flanked!" He said and he watched the Landmaster's shields go down and bailed out before it was destroyed. Krystal saw the Landmaster's explosion and stopped dead in her tracks her heart about to burst. "Fox?!" She cried out trying to hold back a few tears. "I'm okay." He said before jumping down to join her "All the hatchers over there are down only a couple more." He encouraged her and noticed the few tears that she had let out while they ran for the next target.

"Where's all the dinosaurs?" She asked "They've grouped up on the other side of the planet in defense, if we take these hatchers out we'll save them." Peppy answered her. "Gee I wonder how much Tricky has grown." She thought aloud "Not much I'm sure, it's not been that long." Fox said smiling at her before they took out the next hatcher.

"So why is this planet so important to Krystal?" Falco asked "Shouldn't it be bad memories from when she was captured." Fox sat appalled at the question. "This is where we met of course this place is important to us." He answered while killing the next group of Aparoids. "Fox look out!" She pushed him out of the way of rapid gunfire from a turret behind them. "Thanks Krystal." He smiled while getting up until he saw the vixen on the ground. "Krystal?" He found she was hit while pushing him out of the way, luckily it was a light laser shot and left only a burn. Though incredibly painful it went away in a few minutes.

"Just wait here I'll take out this cave and you can rest." He placed her on a rock and headed in to find the next hatcher. A few seconds later she saw smaller Aparoids fleeing from the cave as she heard rapid gunfire from the vulpine's machine gun. She pulled out her blaster and took out the ones running.

"Only two left good job you two!" Peppy said and Fox helped her down and attempted to carry her to the next place. "You don't need to, I can walk now." She smiled at him and he blushed slightly before coming back to attention at the problem at hand.

"There one more now." She said as she took out the hatcher as Fox took out the rest of the Aparoids. "There's the last one!" Slippy yelled out but then was disheartened to see it was on the eighth floor of a huge temple. "Great.." Fox sighed as he climbed up the never ending stairs and never ending waves of Aparoids charged them while they climbed.

"Only one more floor to go.." He panted as they climbed further and further. As soon as they made it to the top an Aparoids pushed the hatcher off of the temple in a last effort to save their attack. "I swear I'm going to kill all of these monsters." He groaned as they ran down the stairs finding a flood of Aparoids at the bottom trying to climb over each other to get up the stairs at the two foxes. "Hold on...I got a fun idea.." He smiled mischievously as he pulled out a grenade and threw it into the pile of bugs.

With a loud boom it was raining Aparoids and they both laughed and took down the final hatcher. "We did it, all of the hatchers are down." Fox said laughing still from the grenade incident. "Take out all the Aparoids then!" Peppy ordered, Fox looked around. "We already did, with one grenade!" Krystal cut in.

Slippy and Falco cleared the skies while Krystal and Fox watched. "There we're done here then" Falco smiled "We saved it Krystal." Fox said smiling at her and that smile was returned tenfold and what happened next wasn't expected by either of them.

Fox felt the vixen jump onto him and he struggled to catch her making him fall down onto the ground. Before the vulpine could react the vixen's lips were connected to his and then he noticed something else that had never happened to them before. Her tongue was assaulting his mouth aggressively and none of them had expected it his first reaction was to pull away but he had dreamt of this moment so many times so he returned her favor and her kiss.

The two laid there for what seemed to be hours kissing. "Fox! Are you okay? Foxxx... Come in Fox!" Falco's voice yelled over their communicator's before Krystal turned them both off, Fox hadn't heard their voices he was lost in a dream at that point.

Krystal finally broke the kiss "Fox I can't stand this anymore!" She almost yelled at him. "I love you and I can't hold myself back any longer." Something inside the vixen had snapped, thinking about the history for them on this planet and the fact of how the last year had been was too much for her. Something inside the vulpine snapped as well as he sat there in awe not saying anything.

"Fox?" She asked, his silence making her feel uneasy about her actions. "Wow.." Was all he could manage to say. "Is that a good wow or a bad wow?" She asked almost immediately. "G-good.." He said still staring at the sky and wondering if he was dreaming. "You've never..Told me that.." He stuttered "What?" She asked him and he just sat there.

"You've never said that you loved me before.. I didn't think it was a big deal due to I assumed you did but it just feels so good to hear.." He managed to say finally. "I'm sorry, I guess you've been the only one brave enough to say it." She felt disappointed in herself for not telling him and making him tell her.

"Is Fox and Krystal okay?" Falco asked "Fox is just fine.." Peppy replied seeing on the map that their communicators were right on top of each other when shut off and assuming he knew what happened.

"Fox, I think it's time we actually start to be a couple.." She managed to say, blushing like never before. "I would love that." He smiled "I love you." and he kissed her again.

An hour had passed and Krystal was about to fall asleep on him right there, they hadn't moved an inch. "You know when I first saw you I said you were beautiful.." He said to her looking into her eyes. "You're the best thing I've ever seen." He went onto say but something noticeable from him was that he hadn't blushed when he said it. "I know you said I was beautiful when you first saw me, I could see you and hear you." She smiled back at him, he slightly blushed. "You could barely walk afterwords and I thought you were so cute."

After that he kissed her forehead and she wrapped her tail around his making him jump. "I won't bite.." She laughed as she laid her head on his chest and fell asleep.

He stared at the most beautiful thing he had laid eyes on and knew now that he had her to take care of and protect. Soon that was interrupted by the chill of night and the reality that they had to end the war before they could date. "Krystal." He poked her and she moaned at him. "Five more minutes please.." "Fine." He smiled before hearing a voice.

"Fox!!!" Before a large dinosaur appeared before him. He jumped back and dropped Krystal to the ground waking her up. "Aw I knew you two would finally decide to get married." He said but Fox had a problem finding who he was. "Fox it's me Tricky!" He was left wondering how he had grown so big in so little time. "How'd you grow so fast?" Krystal asked "Dinosaurs grow up quicker than other species, but we usually live to be the oldest for some reason." He said and Fox smiled at him. "You've come a long way, you're the king here now aren't you?" Fox asked smiling in disbelief that such a little annoying thing like Tricky could grow so fast.

"Yeah, kind of but my parents are helping me. Come on I'll take you wherever you two want." He bent down so he could carry them. "You did save us after all so it's the least I can do." "Alright but we don't have much time can you just take us to our Arwings?" Fox asked and Tricky nodded.

"You're going to go take them all out aren't you?" Tricky asked "Well that's the plan." Krystal answered before Fox could say anything making him push her shoulder lightly. "So can I go with you?" He asked making Fox sigh "No, You're needed here more. But I'll take a couple of them out for you." He patted the dinosaur's back. "Well alright, I'll fix this place up and get it ready for you two on your honeymoon!"

"What?!" Fox jumped back making Krystal laugh. "We're not married yet!" "Yeah right I saw you two!" Tricky responded making Fox let out a growl "Stop it you two." Krystal laughed and almost fell off of Tricky.

"There you go you two, come see me when you've won!" Tricky sat and watched them get ready to leave. "We will if you fix the place up." Fox laughed and they said their goodbye's and left for home.

"I love you." Krystal said over communications to the vulpine as they flew back making him smile. "You know Peppy could be listening to us." "I don't care it's not like I said anything wrong." They both laughed as they flew back. Peppy did hear their conversation glad that they finally realized they had been out there for hours.

They came back to find most of the team in bed, Peppy was the only one not in bed and had fallen asleep in his chair. "If you want we can sleep in your room." Krystal whispered to him. He smiled and nodded, they left to get sleepwear on and Krystal fell asleep quickly in the vulpine's arms.

_-Author's Note: Hope this long Dang chapter makes up for my absence, I have been planning this chapter out for months and I'm so happy I've come to it finally, it was enjoyable to write and hopefully enjoyable to read, on the bad news I will be out of town until Sunday and probably won't get a chapter in until then. Hope this makes up for it and I'd love to hear your response on this chapter! Thanks for reading.-_


	36. XXXVI Star Wolf to The Rescue?

XXXVI. Star Wolf to The Rescue?

Fox woke up seeing that the previous day hadn't been a dream. He was broken from his daze when Krystal let out a loud yawn. "Fox.." She mumbled but said nothing else. "I'm sorry. Go back to sleep." He whispered back

"Fox!" A voice from the hall came and barged into the door "What the heck happened here? Better yet I don't want to know, Corneria's been attacked!" It was Falco and Fox didn't believe him for a minute "I doubt that it's anything terrible if anything." Fox sighed, "No it's bad and were landing in fifteen minutes so hurry up you two!" The vulpine scrambled up, pushing Krystal off of the bed.

Krystal woke up with a scream before making a thud on the floor. "Fox?!" "No time. Go get ready." Was all he said before he shut the bathroom door and took his morning shower.

"What's our plan going to be?" Krystal asked him when they both were ready, they were on the way to meet up with Falco, Slippy and Peppy on the Bridge. "I'm not sure what the situation is so I don't know." He laughed slightly.

"This is terrible Fox!" Peppy said as they entered the room, Fox's jaw dropped when he saw the pictures from Corneria City. "Our radar has been blocked by them this time." Falco added. "Great.. They got smarter apparently." Fox groaned and came up with a strategy.

"I'll take out whatever's blocking our radar while you guys support me in Arwings." "Going to be the hero again Fox?" Falco said angrily. "No it's got nothing to do with being the hero, if I can't make it you go on after me." "Fine, I like the sky more anyways." He muttered sarcastically and headed out.

Fox flew down to Corneria speechless at how bad the situation was, his mouth frozen wide open for a minute. "Is this even Corneria?" Fox asked when he landed on the nearly destroyed planet. "Yep now get to work Fox." Peppy said and Fox made his way through the city.

"This is terrible everything's in ruins." Fox exclaimed as he made his way through Corneria's capital city.

"I think I already see what's messing up our radar." Fox stated as he saw something that looked like an eye floating near some wreckage. He shot but it seemed not to be affected "Huh? I'm not doing any damage to it!" Fox yelled out in frustration before the eye opened and shot a weird ring of energy at him. The next shot he took he waited for the eye to open and that did the trick. With one shot from the sniper rifle he could take one down easily.

He traveled east, west, north and south across the city finding each target and taking out the enemies on the ground as well. Finding the jammers was an easy job for him, each one made a large green fog on the radar leading him to each one.

He was headed over a bridge heading for the last one when suddenly the bridge collapsed under him. He was on the center of the bridge so his only option was to hang on for the ride.

The loud sounds of the bridge falling could be heard over his yelling voice, the team had no idea what had happened to him. Fox groaned and tried to get up, unable to move for a moment luckily a building under him broke his fall.

"Fox? Fox?!" Falco asked after moments of silence. "I'm fine." He said even though the pain in his hip said otherwise. "Good! Fox! Help!" Krystal yelled out. Fox forced himself to stumble up and grab his weapon, only one problem his weapon wasn't on his back as usual. "Hang on Krystal!" He said and looked down on the building's top for his weapon.

Finally he found it, it had fallen through a hole on the roof down to the floor below. He looked down to check Krystal's shields luckily they were only down to sixty percent. Finally making his way to the top of the building to get a view of her Arwing he tried to get a shot on the three ships following her.

He couldn't get a clear shot, she kept winding back and forth behind buildings to try and get away. "Krystal...I can't get a clear shot...The buildings." He managed to say trying his hardest to get even one of the ships. He looked down her shields were going down faster and faster. "Okay hold on I'll fly by you." She struggled to control the ship and make her way towards the vulpine.

It didn't help at all, the buildings were the only objects blocking most of the laser fire from the ships. Fox watched the gauge cautiously fourteen, thirteen then it happened. Her engine started giving out and almost flew her straight into the ground. "Krystal abort!" Fox ordered seeing that they were in a losing battle. She tried to refuse and trust the vulpine would save her "Krystal now!" Fox muttered still trying to get a shot off.

She had no choice now five percent and dropping, "Okay, good luck." and with that she put all her power to the engines and sped off back to base. "I hope she can make it.." Fox muttered aloud and he sat down for a moment frustrated at himself.

"Fox get back to work down there!" Peppy ordered minutes later, the vulpine had been trapped in thought. "I-I was j-just grr." Fox got up and put his frustration onto the next radar jammer and smiled slightly at what he thought to be a successful mission.

"Fox I sent you another Arwing find it and take out the flying Aparoids!" Peppy ordered again only frustrating the vulpine. He followed his orders as usual and ran towards the Arwing on radar. The absence of Krystal brought silence to the whole team for the entire mission and when he got on the building top that the Arwing was landed on the silence only got worse.

Fox was ambushed by Aparoids from all sides and another Aparoid came flying in. "Aahhh!" Was all the vulpine could yell as lasers fired all around him, he finally saw a hole and ran for it only to get hit by the flying Aparoid.

He opened his eyes a split second later, he wasn't on the ground but he was alive and that by itself was a miracle. "Wolf?! Why the heck are you here?!" Fox yelled when he realized he was on the wing of a Wolfen. "I thought I'd drop in, you complaining about it?" He asked with a smirk "No...Just why?" Is all Fox could manage out, millions of thoughts going through his mind.

"If anyone's going to finish you it'll be me. Now use this and blast those annoying bugs!" Wolf handed him a plasma cannon, the same one Falco had handed him on Fichina. "Does everyone have one of these now?" He asked before Leon and Panther cut in "Yes.. They're very easy to get...Illegally." Leon laughed "What happened to the girl?" Panther snarled but Fox didn't answer, ashamed of himself for not protecting his team and especially her.

"Fox get shooting they're all over me!" Wolf yelled breaking Fox's guilt and the vulpine shot away at the flying Aparoids while the lupine flew around the city. To Fox's surprise he worked well with Wolf but a bigger task was soon at hand when R.O.B. Yelled out an alert of another ship entering the area.

"Is that the General's flagship?" Peppy asked, indeed it was the old hound was flying to them. "Is he here to congratulate us?" Wolf asked but Fox knew better and could see something was wrong when the cockpit had some sort of purple glow to it. "Fox? Is that you... The Aparoids have taken control of me!" Pepper barely was able to speak. Fox's heart was pounding before and now it had dropped down almost into the pit of his stomach. He knew he had to take out General Pepper, here and now.

"Fox just accept it and don't let up!" Wolf cheered him on as Fox struggle to pull the trigger on the general, his friend was now his enemy and the Aparoids wanted it that way, they knew how to get to him and his team from all the memory they had absorbed. "Fox don't stop!" Falco cheered him on, Slippy could be heard crying knowing that either his best friend or his other friend would die from this.

The general shot missiles, lasers, everything to try and stop the vulpine but he didn't stop he fired until the general's ship took too many hits and his ship fell with a small explosion. "General Pepper!" Peppy yelled and his Arwing came flying into the battle. "Peppy?!" Fox yelled out as he saw Peppy fly under the general in an attempt to save his life, then a huge explosion came from both of the ships Fox knew that they both now were dead and shed a tear.

"Ouch..I'll feel that in the morning.." Peppy groaned bringing a sigh of relief from everybody "Peppy what have you done?" The general asked but Peppy only grinned "Looks like I'll never retire now. Get me to a medic." Peppy smiled even though he was injured from his job well done.

Fox flew back to the Great Fox to check on Krystal. When he arrived the vixen was nowhere in sight only worrying him more. "Krystal?!" He yelled out, no response. He headed for her room, no lights were on so he figured she wasn't there but went in anyways.

"Krystal?" He saw the vixen laying face down on her bed only bringing him a sickening feeling of guilt in his stomach. "What's wrong?" She could tell he was angry with himself over the matter and only muttered to him "I have a terrible headache, I hit my head on the dashboard of my Arwing when I was going down.." She lifted her head to show a slight bruise but nothing worse. "You'll be fine.." She smiled at him before crashing her head back down. he rubbed her temples trying to help her before Falco barged in "Fox we need to go help out at the gate!" "Okay, I'll be there in a second how bad is it?" For once he didn't seem affected that Falco had barged in on them when they were alone.

"There's a giant missile on it's way!" With that he got ready to head back out to aid the gate. Krystal tried to get up as well. "No you're staying, I'll be back in like five minutes." He smiled at her and left with a kiss to her forehead.

Fox and Falco went alone to take out the missile, finding a swarm of small aparoids in their path. "Target practice!" Falco laughed, enjoying his time in private with the vulpine on a mission. "There it is but all those Aparoids are swarming the gate too, we might not be able to take them all." Fox panicked soon three more ships came to their aid "Don't sound like that now Fox, We'll take the missile you guys focus on the swarm!" Wolf commanded and came in the nick of time too.

"Okay you heard him Falco lets see who can get the most ticks before we're done." The two took the mission as a joke and it was after that, Star Wolf easily took out the missile with three ships while Fox and Falco swept each corner of the area from Aparoids.

"Good luck at their homeworld..Bird.." Leon hissed as Star Wolf left the area. "There done with that!" Fox sighed. "What's your total Fox?" Falco asked "Four hundred and two." Fox said proudly at the number of kills. "Bah, you're kidding I got four hundred even." they both laughed "Well it's close enough so lets just call it a tie." The vulpine offered which Falco gladly accepted.

Krystal was awoken from the loud noises of Arwings landing in the hangar as Fox and Falco came in to see Slippy, R.O.B., and a bandaged Peppy. "Alright it's time to go to their homeworld so get some rest, tommorow we start our invasion." Peppy said bringing a nod from Fox and less positive response from the avian.

"What?! Tommorow? Do I not get a day off?!" "Well if we take a day off another planet will be in ruins!" Fox responded to Falco and only brought a sigh from him. "Okay Peppy get us there, I'm going to check on Krystal." Fox said and hurried off to try and help Krystal from her headache. Stopping for a shower on the way.

_-Author's Note: YES I am still alive, got home later than planned from snowstorms and came home to no power, bummer. Sorry for the delay, this has put me way behind my planned schedule so I had to minimize these two missions and probably the next two for time. If for whatever reason I cannot get in the end of Assault tommorow I will add a one shot Christmas special, if I can I will add a chapter for it. Hope you enjoy this sloppy chapter somewhat and don't hate it totally. I will make something special for the holidays so keep watch. THANKS FOR READING. Your comments and messages make it all worth while. Hope you have a Merry Christmas!-_


	37. XXXVII Noble Sacrifices

XXXVII. Noble Sacrifices?

The vulpine quickly got to sleep after checking on Krystal, the constant fighting was wearing him down and he was glad the war was almost over with. The vulpine's only rest before the final battle wasn't a good one.

Fox tossed and turned in his bed he was dreaming what he had dreamt a month before. The dream then meant nothing to him and he couldn't recognize anything but now he could. Somehow Aparoids were swarming the Great Fox and it was crashing as soon as it hit he heard a huge explosion and jumped up.

Another loud rumble shook the ship. "Team get up to the bridge asap." Peppy ordered over the intercom "Ugh..What time is it.." He groaned to himself as he looked over to the clock it wasn't even 3 A.M. yet. He went to his closet to pick out his regular battle clothes and headed to the bridge to see what was happening.

Fox walked up to the bridge to meet up with the team and to find out what was the urgent emergency. "What is it?" He asked groggily "Well we're warping and General Pepper's assistant told us that we are to attack immediately after the warp." Fox sighed, he was happy to get this over with but wasn't very happy with not getting but 2 hours of sleep beforehand.

"Wow it-it's.." Fox stuttered "Beautiful.." Krystal finished as they gazed upon the Aparoid's homeworld. It looked like a peaceful mysterious planet and the glow matched the aparoids in a way but it still seemed impossible that they'd come from a place like this. "Wait a minute.. It's size and mass are disproportionate." Peppy stated. Fox was confused on what he meant for a moment before realizing what possible might be wrong. "The Aparoids are on the other side then?" He asked "Yep." Peppy answered.

Aparoids suddenly swarmed the fleet and the Great Fox as well "You all know what that means, everyone to your Arwings!" Fox ordered only to be stopped by Peppy. "Hold on, I'm setting up radar..It seems like they all came from a tunnel that goes deep into the core of the planet." "Yeah but we won't last without taking them out up here first.." Slippy added. "True but if we don't go down there they'll just keep coming." Peppy continued thinking of a plan.

"I've got it..We'll have the rest of the Cornerian Fleet take out the Aparoids in the air and you four will try and get that energy shield open to get to the queen." "Wait Peppy, there's a shield?!" Fox asked slightly annoyed that the job would be harder than he had hoped, it always was.

"What exactly do we do to take out the shield?" Fox asked "There's eight hatchers down on that platform I'm sure that'll do it." "Great.." Falco added. "Alright let's just go get this over with, Krystal you're with me on foot Falco, Slippy you're in the sky." Fox ordered and the others headed towards the hangar. "Peppy make sure the escape pods are ready to be launched, I have an odd feeling they might be needed today." Peppy chuckled and replied "I already set that up last night." Fox then headed to meet up with the others and take off to end the war.

Fox landed with Krystal on the platforms high above the planet's surface, the Aparoids swarmed them instantly and they headed off to get their work done quickly. "The faster we get this over with the faster we get a vacation so hurry up Foxie!" Falco added to hopefully make them faster.

They quickly headed through the buildings taking out the hatchers as fast as possible. Their radar helping them out along the way showing each one that was in range. Fox went through the next building and found he had to take out two floors, upstairs and down.

He decided that he didn't have the time to go down the ramp and jumped down only to misjudge the height and hurt himself. He ignored the pain and shot the hatcher but this time there was no effect. They were shielded by something. "Fox they're shielded there's got to be a generator somewhere find it!" Peppy helped out and Fox saw it, the generator wasn't that hard to see, in fact he had destroyed them already but not even noticed.

The vulpine finished downstairs and headed up meeting a group of Aparoids and turrets on his way. He found the generators and took down the next hatcher, only three more remained and then they'd head straight to the queen.

The mission so far wasn't too hard, it was only time consuming but here time wasn't on their side. Every minute they took another ship from the Cornerian fleet was destroyed and their numbers were quickly being reduced to almost nothing. "Looks like we're the last hope, we've already lost half of the fleet." Peppy said dreadfully. The reality hit the team that they weren't even dealing with a quarter of the Aparoids that damaged the fleet.

"Don't worry we only have two more." Krystal said assuring them that they could do this. Krystal needed to take down one more and Fox was nearing his last hatcher to kill, hopefully after that he would never hear of another Aparoid hatcher again.

"Got another!" Krystal yelled victoriously, Fox stopped in his tracks. "How did yo--" He was interrupted by a group attacking him. Everyone could hear the screech of the fallen Aparoids from Fox's end. He smiled and said "Okay I got the last one down" "Sensing a new target: A hatcher." R.O.B. said in his robotic tone. The vulpine's hopes that it was almost over were shattered "What?!" He asked sounding as annoyed as possible. "They're under the base Fox get to it!"

Fox fell on his back for a second and yelled out anything that came to his mind, furious with the world around him. He snapped back to reality and headed to his Arwing, meeting Krystal along the way.

"Fox why are you so slow today?" She asked him noticing he fell behind her repeatedly. "I don't know, I guess i'm just tired." He barely made it to his Arwing without falling over, his ankles were killing him. He flew in under the base and took out the hatchers quickly with Krystal, Falco and Slippy's help.

They flew over the tunnel heading toward's the core of the planet and waited for orders from their leader. Before he could issue them to fly in some sort of energy shield popped up and blocked the way again. "What the?" Fox yelled out "Oh you gotta be kidding me!" Falco blasted at the shield and yelled at it. "The energy is forming a shield, laser fire's gonna be useless!" Slippy said then out of nowhere a fiery mass came towards them.

"Out of the way everybody!" Peppy ordered. The Great Fox was covered in Aparoids and a few hatchers. "Peppy no!" Fox yelled Before he even knew what the hare was attempting. The image he had the previous night and alot earlier came true in front of him. The Great Fox broke through the energy shield giving them an opening but sacrificing itself for the cause.

Fox tried to take a deep breath and tell himself Peppy would launch the escape pods but they never shot. "What are you guys doing that shield will be right back!" Peppy yelled to the team but they were lost in their emotions of the situations, Slippy was crying uncontrollably at Peppy's sacrifice.

Fox knew this was where he needed to lead them and rally his squad. He did just that. "Come on guys, we need to take advantage of the hole Peppy's given us." He ordered them to go and they followed the order.

As they entered into the Queen's lair they were blinded by a bright light and they knew that light was the last thing that Peppy would ever see. Fox tried to assure himself Peppy had launched the escape pods but it was doubtful. Even if he had the explosion would kill him instantly at a short range.

The team flew towards what they thought would be the final battle, not knowing what lied in their path...

_-Author's Note: First off I know this chapter pretty much sucks (Very bad descriptions, way too fast, small ,etc)But my goal right now is to get Assault done with, it's been way too long and it's sucked out the enjoyment of writing( lawl). but I wanted to get something out seeing I haven't written much over Christmas. Hopefully it's enough to enjoy for now. I'll keep an update note on my profile page and try to keep in touch with whoever likes to read this. Thanks for reading and sorry for the long wait.-_

_-P.S.: Christmas special was posted for all that haven't seen.-_


	38. XVIII The End of The War

XXXVIII The End of The War

The blinding light that had flashed through the tunnel they were traveling through receded and finally they could see where they were. The walls were purple, the same color as everything on this ugly planet, Fox had seen so much of the color lately that it gave him a major headache. But he could see a reflection on the walls, something following them.

"Falco we've got uninvited guests following us." He said calmly expecting an Aparoid attack any moment now. The team sped up trying to outrun their 'enemies' but they kept getting closer and closer. By now it was obvious they weren't Aparoids at all and a closer glance showed Fox it was Wolf and his team.

"How did you guys get here?" He asked knowing now they were listening in on their conversation. "We followed you guys through that warp, I'm surprised you could even make it this far." Wolf said and flew up next to Fox trying to lead the group over him. "Seven ships, well that's better than four!" Slippy chimed in. Fox was more than happy to have Star Wolf help him until Panther opened his mouth. "Don't worry Krystal I'll protect you from here on in.." Fox wanted to gag and Krystal had a feeling of wanting to punch him in the gut or just shoot him down right now.

She tried to say something in her defense to him but only ended out saying "Panther.." For some reason something came over her and she could say nothing more. Fox tried his best to shrug it off, hoping Krystal actually wasn't falling for someone else, especially someone like Panther.

"Come on let's go." He mustered the capability to command and they flew through in search for the Queen and to end this war at any cost. The first group of Aparoids came at them quickly which the group of seven took down easily. "No matter where they are they're just a bunch of bugs." Wolf snarled at the lack off difficulty it took to kill them. "Yeah but they're powerful in groups so don't get caught." Fox forewarned even though he knew Wolf wouldn't care for his advice.

The seven ships flew through the tunnel, which now seemed to be a pipeline walled in purple, wherever it could lead them. "Fox help!" Slippy cried out loudly, trying to shake off three Aparoid ships following him closely. The vulpine quickly aided his teammate and kept through whatever path the Aparoids would give them.

The path was easy for them as they took out group after group of Aparoids "I hate these things.." Fox mumbled, the Aparoids had annoying habit of bringing more and more reinforcements in to attack him. No matter how many he killed it seemed like he hadn't progressed much, hopefully killing the Queen would change that.

"Fox Falco's in trouble!" Krystal snapped him out of his thought. Falco quickly flew in front of Fox yelling "I can't shake 'em!"Fox quickly jumped and rapidly fired at the targets. One. Two. Three. Four. "Oof can't you tell your friends from your enemies?" Falco angrily yelled Fox had a thing for shooting Falco accidentally. "Sorry." Fox said and took lead in front of Falco heading for the next thing the Aparoids would throw in their way.

Fox was relieved to see no Aparoids on this stretch, even though it was a small area before the next turn a break would be nice for his aching hands. All of a sudden an energy shield formed blocking the path. "Huh?!" Fox yelped as he pulled up as hard as he could, finding a gap he could get through to continue.

He took a deep breath and looked back behind him hoping everyone had made it through. All seven ships luckily were accounted for. "You got quite the surprise there didn't you pup." Wolf laughed. Fox ignored him and kept going.

They had to be nearing the end of this long trip, the Queen wouldn't put up much of a fight and then they'd be going home was what everyone thought. Fox was looking everywhere for an entrance to the Queen's chamber but knew that the only way was to keep following this pipeline to the bottom.

Suddenly a strange Aparoid came at them, all seven of them shot instantly destroying it in less then a second but it was only a distraction. A group of Aparoids flew into the back of the Arwings and Wolfens on a suicide run to destroy the ships. Luckily most of the Arwing's armor was concentrated to the rear knowing that's where most laser fire would hit. The Wolfens weren't as lucky and their damage was critical already.

"Fox help!" This time it was Krystal that yelled it out. Fox smiled and took down the Aparoids following her. Fox couldn't help but smile and think of what would happen after the war with the Aparoids. He had to break from his thoughts and focus to even get there though as they came towards what seemed to be the last area.

"These attacks are intense it shows how far we've come." Fox stated entering the next area. In the following room laser energy formed obstacles to avoid. "Gee is this an obstacle course or their last defense lines?" Falco laughed easily getting through the room. "We have to be close." Fox said trying to find how deep they were below the planet on radar. "What the?!" Falco yelled Fox looked up and saw another group of Aparoids charging a black energy mass to fire at them.

No matter how many shots the new enemies took they wouldn't fall. Wolf saw his shields almost drained and decided they'd make use of themselves as distractions. "Fox you take out the Queen. Panther, Leon Let's distract these guys!" Wolf commanded his team

Fox was dumbfounded by Wolf's heroic move. "Fox.." Was all Krystal could word out. "Come on let's go end this war!" Fox said and they headed into what they hoped would be the Queen's chambers.

Flying in quickly they found that they must've been right a giant creature sat there, she sat still and didn't move an inch. Fox noticed she was sitting in a strange liquid while Aparoid larvae floated up from the water. "That must be.." Fox said "The queen.." Krystal finished they were all amazed by how she looked, like a large statue wearing a mask.

"Fox.." Called out a voice that didn't register in his mind for a moment even though it sounded familiar. "Fox don't be a fool stop all this nonsense." It hit the vulpine that it was Pigma. "You swine, You're supposed to be dead!" Falco blurted out.

The confusion of the moment was indescribable. "Star Fox team.. Accept defeat." Another voice called out "G-G-General Pepper?" Slippy asked realizing whose voice it was. "Give in this is not Sacrifice, it's evolution!" Another voice chimed in, obvious to all it was Peppy who had surely died minutes ago. Did the queen capture whoever she killed?

"Fox.." Another voice spoke Fox's mind raced and his heart pounded. He suddenly remembered his earliest memories knowing who owned that voice. "D-dad.." He muttered in confusion trying to find out how the Queen could know about his father. The only thought Fox could come up with was that his father was still alive, atleast until whenever the Aparoids got to him. "That's enough.. There's no need for you to be hurt anymore." His father said in a calming tone only bringing anger from the vulpine along with the confusion.

"Fox don't let it fool you.." Falco tried to support his leader knowing that the Queen had just hit one of his weakest of points. "I know.. My father would never tell me to give up." Fox was sure it wasn't his real father, atleast not anymore. "I get it.. The Queens using information from all the things she's absorbed!" Slippy said.

Everything made sense now she was just playing mind tricks on them, attacking them mentally and even emotionally, trying her hardest to make them give in after coming so far. The voices kept trying to pry them of their will only one thing came to Fox's mind: Wolf's advice.

"Don't hesitate, when the time comes just act!" Atleast that's what Fox remembered of it. "Let's give the Queen her present!" Fox yelled out almost like a battle cry and went full throttle into battle.

"Grr.. She's coated in armor!" Fox yelled in anger. "We can't get that self destruct program through that armor." Krystal said in response Falco used his favorite advice. "What's the problem? When something's in the way just blast it!" Fox did just that and blasted right through the flimsy armor showing what seemed to be a weak point, a shining mass of energy near the stomach of the creature. Krystal confirmed Fox's thought and he focused fire.

Fox shot rapidly, shot after shot hit the weakest point. The queen kept trying to make them surrender with her voices. Even R.O.B chimed in "Probability of Star Fox team victory is..Zero."

"Fox get out!" Krystal yelled sensing an energy build up as the Queen raised wings and shot energy out in front of her, Fox was thankful to say the least. "Okay now finish it!" She ordered to him when the energy wore down.

The last thing the Queen was able to do was turn in defense, it's attempt at resisting the four was futile. "Take this.." Fox almost growled as he shot in the program. The queen went up in several explosions and sat there shaking slightly. "Is..Is it working?" Fox asked praying several times over. "All for us.. All things in the universe will be ours.." The queen said in her real voice. "Umm.." Fox tried to figure out what was happening as the Queen sunk into the liquid pool around her.

"Submit to us.." She muttered again. "It should be working but she's suppressing it!" Slippy explained "This isn't good if she escapes now she'll make an antibody!" "Follow her and end this!" Fox commanded and flew after her, if the program didn't kill her he would.

The hole she had made through the liquid made an easy path for them into another tunnel. "This is it.. The final battle." Fox said as they closed in on the Queen who turned around taking over another form. She had four eyes on each side and four mouths as well, the monster he would expect to lead something as disgusting as the Aparoids unlike her previous form.

The eyes were the thing that stood out to him. "Shoot the eyes!" Fox commanded, all four teammembers shot with haste at an eye. Whenever an eye got shot it would close just slightly, in five shots it would close completely which came very soon from their teamwork.

The eyes were now closed leaving no weakpoint, then all of a sudden another mouth came from the center breathing out some fire-like element at them. Fox shot as much as he could at the new mouth hoping that would end the Queen, soon a peice of armor came off of the top of the mouth showing another eye. The whole team tried to get close and fire but soon she shot out mines at them.

The ships rumbled as the mines exploded all around, their shields dropped and even Krystal let out a cry for help. Fox couldn't help her at this point and was discouraged at their chances of survival. "Shoot them before they blow up!" Falco ordered, everyone followed the avian's command and shot every mine that came close. "Mines..What else do these things have in their arsenal?" Fox asked annoyed at this whole thing now. "We've almost got it just a bit more!" Slippy said encouragingly

His shield gauges showed them that she was down to around 35%, every shot built her anger and even scared her more. "Don't hesitate she's afraid of us!" Krystal said. Fox blasted the new eye as many times as he could before the Queen pulled it back inside of her. The four eyes opened again and the Star Fox team knew what to do. Soon the four eyes were closed revealing the next phase.

"Finish it!" Falco ordered, Fox was too sidetracked shooting any mine that went towards Krystal to fire at the Queen now. Krystal got a better shot and saw Fox protecting her and decided to take a risk for it all. "It's time to do or die!" She said before diverting most power to her lasers. The loudest shot they had ever heard went off and the Queen screeched in pain.

The team's ears ringed from the loud explosion of energy. The Queen fell back and had another slight explosion leaving only a small portion of her body left. She flew back screeching, trying to get away. "Here I come you evil spacehag!" Fox yelled and charged like a maniac at her.

The Arwing's engine roared at his speed as he took the final shots on the Queen's final form, suddenly she shot out a tunnel of energy. Fox followed through the center without damaging himself. "Okay I see what you're gonna try now.." Fox said to himself, suddenly she shot at him again.

"Crud!" Fox yelled just as soon as he noticed that her shot was fire this time. His Arwing luckily took the heat until he could fly out of it. His cockpit temperature must've been in the upper 120's now though.

Fox kept an eye on the shield gauge then the last hit was dealt, the Queen screeched louder than ever flying down deeper than Fox wanted to follow with astounding speed. An explosion rocked the whole planet as the tunnels' panels broke off showing the purple liquid behind the walls. "You did it!" Krystal said with glee. "The programs working!" Slippy joined.

"That's the end of the Queen.." Fox smiled looking around as everything started to fall apart. "Star Fox team evacuate at maximum velocity!" The vulpine said and with that the team left out and started the road home.

The team made it out just in time as the planet exploded from within. Now that this was over a happy feeling coursed through the vulpine along with sadness. He had lost Peppy, who had been a father figure to him.

"What's that?" Krystal asked pointing at something in the distant wreckage. "Hey you're all okay." Peppy said. "I promise I am really going to retire after this." He laughed bringing a smile from everyone just at their survival. "What about Wolf's team?" Slippy asked "Bah who needs 'em." Falco joked. "I guess time will tell." Fox chuckled.

Fox was now filled with happiness, staring at Krystal with the look he used to give her before they were in this war. "My friends..Thank you.." He managed to say but could think of no more. Soon a voice came through in his head. "I can't wait until we get home." Fox laughed, seeing as Peppy was in an escape pod their 'home' was destroyed.

"Fox." Peppy called out. "General Pepper booked us all rooms at the only expensive hotel left in Corneria." Fox laughed, the war had torn Corneria apart from all of the expensive areas and hardly touched the poorer areas. "Let's head there and take a nice vacation." He replied bringing cheers from everyone.

"There's only one problem.." He continued. "It'll be a long flight home."

_-Author's note: It's finally here the end of this section, thank you everyone who has stuck through this patiently and I hope you enjoy this. Not much else to say but thank you all so much for the support._


	39. XXXIX Are We There Yet?

XXXIX. Are We There Yet?

"Are we almost there?!"Slippy groaned. The rest of the team were asleep while on autopilot. It had been 9 long hours of slow flight since they ended the Aparoids and left the now destroyed planet. "Fox? Falco? Krystal?..Peppy?" Slippy asked but had no response.

Slippy sighed, it didn't help him to see that they were only halfway to Corneria and the team was going much slower than they could due to Peppy's escape pod couldn't even make it to half of the Arwings power. Slippy slowly drifted off to sleep after activating autopilot.

Hours later the team woke up abruptly as they entered an asteroid field they hadn't planned on hitting. Fox, still halfway asleep, thoughtlessly started firing at the asteroids he had done it for so long it became second nature. "What the heck happened?" Peppy asked waking up from his long nap. By the time anyone even knew what happened Falco and Fox had destroyed all of the asteroids.

"Gah! We're not even close to Corneria yet!" Falco yelled slamming his fist down after seeing the map. "We should just go on without Peppy." Slippy joked even though he was halfway serious. "Just have patience guys." Krystal tried to end their conversation but only made things worse. "We've been in these things for a day and a half now, atleast you got out to stretch your legs on that terrible planet!" Falco snapped at her.

Fox sighed about to go crazy from the arguing himself."Plus I have to go to the bathroom." Slippy added. Fox groaned "Alright, fine you guys go ahead I'll stick with Peppy." Nobody could believe their ears, Fox usually made the team stick together while traveling on duty. After their shock Slippy and Falco put their crafts to the test, blasting off and going out of sight in less than twenty seconds.

"Hopefully they'll take the crowd away from us." Fox chuckled and tried to relax for the long ride left. "Krystal you staying back with us too?" Peppy asked, she only responded with a quick and quiet "Mhmm." Fox smiled that he'd atleast have some company other than Peppy, who was asleep most of the time.

A while later Krystal sensed something."Wolf and his team made it." Krystal said confidently, surprising everyone. "How are you sure?" Fox asked expecting she was just saying things to herself. "I can sense them around here somewhere." Fox smiled, glad that the Aparoids didn't kill another group and hoped Star Wolf wouldn't pester the team anymore but deep inside he knew that would never happen.

"So Fox whenever we get to Corneria what will we do?" Krystal asked a moments later. Fox was worried at the thought."Well when we get there we're going to get flooded by whoever wants to thank us for helping. Then well General Pepper wants me to say something to a few people in a meeting." "Fun.." Krystal said sarcastically. "Then it's whatever you want to do I guess." He hoped shopping wasn't on her to-do's

Krystal thought about what she could do while in Corneria, she hadn't been in a big city long and in her new life had hardly done anything that wasn't work or with Fox. "We should go on an actual date.." Fox said she smiled "That'd be nice." "Hopefully nobody will make a big deal out of us being somewhere together though." He added.

"People go out of their way to get stuff on the Star Fox team.. Especially now that we did all this." Fox said remembering the ordeal that came out of them defeating Andross for the first time. Falco suddenly popped on the line "Hey we got here, just waiting for you slow pokes" Falco laughed. "Hey don't touch that!" Slippy yelled in the background before Falco left.

"Well they're paying for leaving right about now." Peppy said making the other two laugh. Two hours later they had some good luck. "Hey, we're atleast in the Lylat System now." Fox said bringing a small smile from Krystal and a snore from Peppy who had fallen asleep again.

Another hour passed and they were entering Corneria's atmosphere. The giant city seemed less mighty as soon as they approached, most of the buildings were being rebuilt at the fastest speed possible trying their best to hide the destruction the Aparoids brought(Still the city looked like a wreck for the most part). Fox was glad to see there wasn't much of a crowd down to greet him, maybe their visit would be much more pleasant than he had expected.

Getting out of his Arwing he noticed that only General Pepper and a few other high ranked military officers were out to greet them. "Welcome back Fox!" Pepper greeted him with a handshake, Fox didn't want to seem rude but the long hours being locked in the Arwing had taken a toll on him. "I hope there wasn't too much damage here.." Fox said trying to think of something to say. He wanted to kick himself at his choice it was obvious the city was mostly destroyed.

"Well, it's nothing we can't fix." The general managed to say, remembering the costs of rebuilding so much. "Come on I'll take you two to your hotel!" Fox only nodded and followed him to a limousine waiting for them. "Do we really need the limo?" He asked even though the answer was obvious "Well you guys just saved the entire Lylat System!" Pepper laughed.

Peppy and Krystal entered the limo without saying a word, it was unlike Peppy to not speak to Pepper but after the events that transpired Fox assumed he was trying to avoid attention. Fox entered the vehicle now noticing the cast on General Pepper's arm. "Fox there's something I need to ask from you and Peppy."

Peppy jumped up startled to hear his name "I know Peppy wants to retire soon." The General started "And well..I've thought about it too recently and just wondered if in a couple of months Peppy might be interested in filling in my position." Fox let out a slight chuckle gaining everyone's stares, as soon as Pepper finished he remembered how long Peppy had been considering retirement but never told anyone but him. "I-I'm n-not sure if I'll want to take that r-r-responsibility but we can see.." The hare stumbled out, Peppy was not one known to be nervous to speak.

The four arrived at a very large hotel, they could hardly see the top, it had to be one of the biggest buildings in Corneria. "Wow.." Krystal muttered looking up at the large building which they were about to stay in. "Well I'm sure you're all very tired after such a hectic battle so I'll see you tommorow Fox. Oh and Peppy don't forget to think about my offer!" General Pepper said before getting back into the vehicle.

"Peppy..I don't think you'll ever get to retire." Fox laughed bringing a fake smile from him. "So are we going to stare at it all night or go in?" Krystal joked, nudging Fox to get him to walk through the door he was blocking. They were the only ones in the lobby without luggage (all of it was destroyed with the Great Fox) Walking up to the front desk Fox didn't even need to say his name, his tattered clothes and face showed who he was. "You're on the eighty eighth floor Mr. McCloud" The worker said with a smile, another came and asked to take their luggage which he then noticed none of them had any.

The three entered an elevator amazed at how many floors they had, the roof was the 372nd floor. "I gotta see what it's like.." Fox said before hitting 372 on the long panel of buttons. The elevator sat there frozen for a moment. "I think we broke it.." Krystal said between giggles. Suddenly with a loud burst the elevator shot up at the speed that could almost break someone's neck. Fox and Peppy were lucky they were leaning on the sides, Krystal fell over not expecting the sudden speed. The lights outside blurred then suddenly the elevator came to a screeching halt.

"Well I'll never do that again.." Krystal said stumbling onto her feet. Peppy looked over the side then backed away. "Building sure has improved in the last few years." Peppy said and then went to the elevator "I'm going to bed though, you two have fun." and with that Krystal and Fox were alone.

Fox was amazed there were a couple taller buildings still in one peice. Fox noticed the vixen staying in the center not even looking over the edge and noticed the problem. "You're scared of heights yet you fly an Arwing?" He didn't even hesitate to ask. "Well..I don't normally look down in an Arwing but yea." Fox smiled pulling her in a bear hug and making her look over the edge for a moment. "See It's okay I got you." He smiled at her.

"Well what if there's a wind gust?" She joked He only smiled back and replied "Well then I'd jump down after you and we'd die together." "That helps alot.." She smiled at him awaiting his next response. She was only responded to with a kiss. "Does that help?" he asked she only nodded her head. They sat there for a few moments before their stomachs growled almost at the same time. "Two days without food and we didn't even remember" She laughed. "Come on let's go get something then." Fox said grabbing her by the hand and taking her back to the elevator that acted more like a roller coaster.

_-Author's Note: Been busy for a few days hope this is a good chapter for people not much happening right now but there will be more conflict soon. Enjoy!-_


	40. XL Bad Start to a Vacation

XL. Bad Start to a Vacation

Fox woke up the next morning late because he was trying to regain the sleep they had lost while on duty. The Aparoid War only went on for slightly more than a week but during that week the whole team averaged only two or three hours of sleep a night, if it wasn't that they were fighting or interrupted they were trying to plan for what they'd do next.

Looking over on the table next to the bed a breakfast was waiting for him. Fox assumed it was a hotel service seeing the prices to even stay for a night. Fox looked across the plate and found a note. _"Fox, going for a walk around the city and figured I'd get you something before I left.. P.S. You snore like a pig - Krystal." _Fox smiled slightly and dug in hoping Krystal would be back soon.

Fox decided to check the news for any events, The vulpine tried to remember the channel for the Cornerian news. Finally he found what he was looking for and noticed that the reporter was talking about Corneria and the destruction that had been caused by the war. "And in other news crime rate has tripled since the war started. Some people are desperate for money since shops, major businesses and popular restaurants have closed down from damages." Fox suddenly felt very worried

Another hour passed by, still no word from Krystal. _"She would tell me using telepathy if she was in trouble.. Plus even if someone tried to do something she'd be able to take care of them herself." _Fox kept telling himself, he was relieved when someone knocked at his door. Fox opened the door and was happy to see Krystal at the door. "Hey." He said trying to sound calm. "Hey.." She weakly said in return. Fox noticed that the vixen didn't look wonderful for once to him. "What's wrong with you?" She stammered trying to come up with a reason "You need more sleep?" He asked after putting the pieces together finally.

"I just couldn't sleep last night, its nothing big." She tried to work up a smile. "I guess I just slept too much yesterday" She tried to just drop it there. "Did you have a vision or something?" Fox asked, making sure she was okay. "I don't know, I doubt it due to I didn't wake up on the floor after my hour of sleep."

"Well then I think you should try and sleep, I can just go and meet General Pepper today and we can have the rest of the weekend to do whatever we please." She only nodded and flopped down on his bed. Fox decided if he was going to have the meeting today he would have to get into something more presentable.

Meanwhile Krystal couldn't get the thoughts out of her mind and still couldn't get to sleep. The dream she had the night before wasn't a vision but still was just as disturbing. She couldn't see much it was like the world was in a blur during the dream all he could hear were the voices of Fox, Falco and Slippy in the background. She tried to be able to remember what happened that was so terrifying about it, the harder she tried to remember the harder it was to actually sleep.

She finally could recognize something, actually it turned crystal clear to her. Fox Slippy and Falco were looking at something, Slippy was fighting back tears. _"Wait was that a tear in Fox's eye?" _She thought in the back of her head as the dream came to her, she wanted to know what they were looking at almost like it were going to come true. "You really can't sleep can you?" Fox chuckled slightly snapping the vixen out of the trance.

She only responded with a slight laugh noticing Fox had been gone for a good amount of time now seeing that he had a handful of new clothes for him. Fox changed into one of the new pairs of clothes and tried to help Krystal get to sleep. She felt his furry arm going around her stomach and pulling her slightly. "I can tell you had a bad dream." He whispered "It wasn't really bad just weird. I don't really know what it was about." She replied groggily. "Just forget about it then and sleep, you need it." He glanced over at the clock and was happy he had another hour until he had to go.

It was only a few moments until Krystal fell asleep, Fox could hear her quietly snoring as well making it one of the only times he had heard her snore. Fox smiled as he got up fifteen minutes later, grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote on it - _"P.S. You snore like a pig."_

The vulpine left the building and got a cab to meet some of the most powerful leaders of the Lylat System. "Fox you should've told me you needed a ride, no sense in you taking a common cab!" Were the first things said at this meeting. "Everyone here would love to meet you!" He said slightly seeming excited for some reason. "Fox thank you so much for Saving-" Everyone in the room said at once and then they blurted out their planet's names while some just said the Lylat System in general. The leaders from Fichina, Katina, Fortuna (Corneria obviously) and a few others that Fox didn't even help personally were there to thank him.

General Pepper even made sure everyone knew he was from Corneria. Fox caught on to why he was so excited now. Even though Fox turned down the offer to join the Cornerian Military countless times he considered Corneria his 'home' planet and it was also the planet who gave him the most jobs. "Fox also we would all love to give something to you." _"Great.."_ He thought to himself not wanting all this attention. Unlike Falco, Fox didn't care for the fame they got from vanquishing the 'Aparoid Evil'. "We would like to present you and your team with the highest military medal possible on live television!"

Fox was expecting something but not anything as big as this. The Galactic Military Excellence award better known as 'Hero of the Lylat' medal was something rarely given. Only awarded to three other people. General Pepper himself had gotten the award but his father hadn't. "But we don't work in the Military.." Fox stammered thinking he didn't really deserve it. "After what you've done nobody cares and you worked with the military on the last few missions of the war so it's fine!" General Pepper said pointing at the insignia attached to his suit that was from the award. Fox was proud to get the award but still felt unsure about disserving it.

Fox returned to his room shortly after their meeting. Walked into the room he found Krystal still sound asleep and quietly got in the bed next to her. "This is going to be one heck of a week.." He sighed to himself before turning the lamp off.

_-Author's note: Not a long chapter but was fun to write. not much to say though. I know these chapters probably aren't much to read but it's building the storyline little by little. Thanks for Reading-_


	41. XLI A New Acquaintance

XLI. A New Acquaintance

"What?!" Falco jumped up when he heard the news. "That's awesome!". Slippy stayed silent, still recovering from his shock. "We gotta tell Fox!" Slippy finally said moments later "No need we met about it yesterday." The general laughed on the other side of the line. "Yeah he's probably sleeping in with Krystal anyways, her door was wide open this morning with nobody in the room." Falco added.

"Wait Fox is in a relationship with Krystal now?" Slippy asked as they left the call with General Pepper. "I think they have been for a while but I'm not too sure Fox would have the courage to do anything with her other than missions." Falco smirked.

Meanwhile the vixen had just woken up but hadn't moved a muscle. "Krystal you up?" Fox groaned stretching out. "Yeah what's up?" She mumbled back. "I thought I'd take you somewhere today but if you still need sleep it's fine. I'm perfectly happy right now." He smiled. "I'm good to go. Yesterday I bought some new clothes to wear so all we need to do is get to the Arwings." She said standing up.

Fox got up and headed for his shower while Krystal headed to her own. Meanwhile Falco and Slippy had left the hotel and headed to get something to eat. "Uh Falco? Why are you speeding up?" Slippy asked as Falco changed pace from a walk to a slight jog. "Someone that I owe is here..Just hurry Slippy." Slippy looked back for a moment trying to see anyone that was following them seeing nothing suspicious other than a crowded sidewalk. "Come on." Falco ordered Slippy took another glance back and followed the bird.

Fox and Krystal thirty minutes later were walking to their Arwings when they were ran into by Falco and Slippy. "Why are you two in a hurry?" Krystal asked. "We're not in a hurry..Just exercising." Falco lied catching his breath. "On a public sidewalk?" Fox asked. "Just you two go do your thing and we'll meet you at the ceremony." Falco pushed them off and headed into the hotel.

"That was odd.." Fox said under his breath making sure Falco or Slippy didn't hear them. "You think he was in trouble?" Krystal asked a slight trace of worry in her voice. "He'll be fine he was just acting weird is all." He assured her.

"Glad to see nobody touched anything.." Fox muttered inspecting both of their Arwings. "By the way what ceremony do we need to go to?" Krystal asked as Fox helped her into her Arwing. "Oh yeah I forgot to tell you. General Pepper is giving us all high ranked awards for the Aparoid situation." "And I'm getting one?" She asked seeming surprised.

"Well you're part of the team aren't you?" She stopped for a moment. "Well I haven't been a part of the team for that long and you all have been through so much compared to me." "You've still been through alot." He knew that the Aparoids put up as much of a fight as Andross did if not more, he only hoped that they wouldn't come back again like Andross did. "Well you were right when you told me I hadn't seen anything yet" He slightly chuckled hoping none of them ever saw anything that bad again.

"So where are we going?" She asked him now curious that they were flying so far away from the city. "Well you've been there before if that helps.. But you weren't invited." He smiled at the memory, it was where he finally got up the courage to ask her out for the first time but their plans were ruined by the Restaurant being destroyed.

She was clueless until they got there the memory popped in her head. It was a small deserted area on the shore. "Noone will ever find us here." He said as they landed "Yeah unless they followed you like I did the first time." She giggled back landing and hopping out of her Arwing.

"So this is why you told me to bring a bathing suit?" Krystal asked sitting down on the shore. "Nah I just wanted to see you in it obviously." He joked "I wouldn't doubt that!" She smirked at him, falling into his arms as she felt him sneak up on her.

"I'm glad we finally have gotten time alone though." He sighed just in a world with two inhabitants now. "Me too." "I love you." He said looking down at her "I love you too.." She mumbled quietly. Their eyes met for a few moments until finally he let his instincts take over and he kissed her after what seemed like an eternity of staring at each other. He was interrupted by a flash and the sound of giggling that didn't come from Krystal. "Who the?!" They both jumped up to see who it was.

"Fox McCloud finally has a girlfriend..." Fox looked at the figure trying to find out who it had been. "How did you find us?!" Krystal asked without hesitation. "And by seeing the blushes on both of your faces I think I just interrupted his first kiss as well." She giggled at them. Suddenly it all clicked in Fox's mind. "Katt Monroe?" Krystal was hopelessly confused now, her first thought had been it was a random fan but now that Fox knew her brought different questions.

"How the heck did you find us?" Fox asked even though Krystal had asked the same thing moments before. "It was easy, Arwings aren't that hard to miss you know." "Yeah well.. Did you just follow us?!" Krystal asked. "I thought one of you were Falco." Fox smirked slightly putting the pieces together "So that's why Falco was running earlier." "He's in the big hotel in the middle of the city" Fox answered writing down their room info.

"Please delete that picture by the way." Krystal begged. "Oh and who is this by the way?" Katt asked. "This is Krystal..Hasn't Falco called you or anything?" Fox asked. "Falco hasn't told me anything since he left." Fox ended it there but made sure she deleted the picture before letting her go.

"So really who was that?" Krystal asked "Katt Monroe.. Basically Falco's well I wouldn't say girlfriend but they have been close before and probably will be again real soon." "So that's why Falco gave you such a hard time?" She asked "Yeah I think so, Slippy's really the only one left without some sort of relationship now."

"Now where were we?" Fox asked leaning in closer to her again only kissing her cheek this time. He was expecting another interruption but nothing happened. "Hm.." He said looking around for an explosion of epic proportions to happen in the distance. "Want to go for a swim?" She suggested realizing that their moment had been brought to a bitter end. "Sure" He responded taking his shirt and shoes off.

"Fox wait!" She yelled out at him but he was already a ways out. The vixen sighed going in after him. "So what was your hurry?" She panted when she finally got to him. "I'm not in one I thought you were with me for a moment." He smiled before noticing that something was wrong. "What's wrong?" "I'm not that good of a swimmer." She admitted ashamedly. "Didn't you practically raise yourself though?" He asked helping her out by holding her up now.

"Yeah but I never had to swim much, I can swim it's just I'm not the fastest." She explained "I'll remember it now." He promised to her. "Ow!" She yelped randomly making Fox give her a weird look. "Fox stop it.." She laughed thinking he was playfully annoying her. "I didn't do anything.." He mumbled looking down to see if he could find anything that could've been the culprit. Fox suddenly felt a tingle on his leg and realized what it was. "Great.. Jellyfish we need to get out." Fox said pulling her away from the annoying swarm. Krystal was pulled to the shore by Fox who had kept his promise to remember her not being the fastest swimmer "Great..Can't even swim out here without an interruption." Krystal groaned looking at the small red bruise on her leg.

"Well it could be worse.." Fox sighed getting towels for both of them from his Arwing. "Yeah, I guess I could still be stuck on Sauria in that crystal." She smiled at him always knowing that he would be her hero. On his way back Fox was ambushed by the Vixen who had been lost in her thoughts about all that happened on Sauria before. Fox chuckled slightly when she had stopped "I love you too.. Now we should head back to the hotel and get ready for our ceremony." She nodded and dried off before they headed back.

"We have an hour and a half so be ready." Fox reminded her as they got into the elevator. As the elevator shot up Krystal fell back onto Fox. "I think you're starting to do that on purpose now." He teased her pulling her back on her feet. "Remember an hour and a half." Fox said again heading into his room to get ready.

_-Author's Note : Hope you've enjoyed reading this I'm actually very happy with this chapter and the next will come soon. Thanks for reading!-_


	42. XLII Wolf's Plan

XLII. Wolf's Plan.

Fox looked in the mirror checking his appearance, he never had thought he looked that great in a suit but he wore one when needed. He sighed as he heard another thump coming from the direction of Falco's room, Katt had been harassing the poor bird for about four hours now.

Fox sighed knocking on the door. "Falco come on we have thirty minutes to get down there." Falco rushed to the door happy that he had to go somewhere for once, he had been looking forward to getting a medal since he heard about it. "Go get Slippy, I'll get Krystal." Fox said knocking on Krystal's door. "Coming!" Krystal yelled to him.

Falco sighed as Slippy came out of the room "Took long enough, now if Krystal would hurry.." He muttered glaring at Fox almost like this was his fault. "I'll get to the limo Pepper sent us, Peppy's already down there. Fox just get Krystal." Falco stated and left dragging Slippy with him. "Wow.." Fox thought aloud when Krystal left her room in an expensive dress. "I thought you'd like it." She smiled and headed for the elevator "Come on Fox Falco will probably be berserk." She called back to him snapping him out of his daze.

"Took you two long enough!" Falco complained when Krystal and Fox finally got into their ride. "Gee Falco you're really excited about this aren't you?" Fox asked the avian even though he knew the answer. "Yeah I am. We finally get the respect we deserve from saving this place." Fox only sighed not wanting people to go crazy for the team. "Glad you all made it okay!" Pepper said opening the door to the limo. "Yeah let's just get this over with.." Fox muttered getting out.

Meanwhile in the depths of space Star Wolf was rebuilding their base in a new location. "Star Fox is getting some reward for the Aparoid war.." Panther mumbled reading a new magazine he picked up. "Its on TV too.." Leon joined in Wolf only looked over before saying something "Well put it on see what they say about us."

"Panther look at this.." Leon smirked showing him a picture that was taken of Fox and Krystal together with the title "_Relations on the Star Fox Team?" _Panther looked at it and sighed "She could've done much better." He sighed before turning on the TV. "Maybe this is the day our name will get out there so we can make more money.." Wolf said before finding the channel the presentation was on.

What seemed to be days later General Pepper finally finished his speech "And because of that it would be an honor to present this award to every member of the Star Fox team!" Fox smiled proudly as the General gave him the medal and headed to the next team member. Falco was next and then Slippy who were at a loss for words.

Peppy was almost asleep by the time the General got to him. Letting out a tired smile afterwards."Fox, they want to hear your story from the battles you all had.." Pepper whispered, beckoning him to the microphone stand. Fox sighed and thought up the best story he could.

"Ugh..This'll go on forever Wolf why don't we just go disrupt their little ceremony.." Leon complained. "He will mention us probably and then we will get our names out there, just wait.. I know Fox he isn't one to not thank someone." Wolf said calmly. "I doubt he will because we're in trouble with the law.." Panther muttered going back to a magazine. "That's another reason why we should want him to say something, it'll be hard to work with everyone out for our heads." Wolf said again.

Fox ended the short story of the battle against the Aparoid Queen and thanked everyone he could think of at the time. Krystal, Falco, Slippy, Peppy and even Slippy's father for making the self destruct program. He hadn't thought of thanking Wolf's team for it due to he expected they be after his tail if he mentioned them doing a good deed.

"I told you.." Panther chuckled and turned the page. "We help them and we don't even get a thanks. I swear we will beat them the next time we meet."Wolf growled "Like that'll happen Wolf..Fox always outthinks you somehow" Leon said "You saying he's smarter than me Leon?" Wolf snarled at him almost looking like he was about to lose his temper. "I'm just saying you should be more...Tactical.." Leon suggested

Wolf was angered by Leon's opinion but he knew it was right "More tactical?.. Hm.." Wolf thought aloud trying to come up with a plan "I'll be back later.." Wolf said and headed to the next room for privacy.

"Well, you happy Falco?" Slippy asked trying to keep from showing his blushing from being on stage. "Yeah this is awesome." Falco said before tapping his foot waiting for Fox to help Krystal back into the limo. "For a tough leader and killer you sure try to act nice." Falco joked at him. "Come on let's just get back to the hotel and continue our vacation." Krystal said with a smile towards Fox.

"Okay I've got a plan on how to beat Fox" Wolf said coming back to his team. "Let's just all gang up on Fox and hope we can shoot him down before we're all dead?" Leon joked even though he wouldn't be surprised if it was Wolf's plan. "No..We just need to take them when they are separated.." Wolf started. "I'm interested.." Panther said putting down his magazine finally.

"Also we need to use their weaknesses against them for once.." Wolf started to tell his plan "The bird's weakness is obviously his overconfidence in himself..So if we can get a voice changer and ask for help from him he will walk right into our trap." "Nice idea but I call dibs on shooting him down." Leon smirked. "Then we need to get Slippy, he's clumsy so it shouldn't be hard..Then if we can find Krystal's weakness we will be all set." "Her weakness is Fox.." Panther added in. "She doesn't want to overwork him or seem weak to him." "How do you know?" Leon asked. "I've dated tons of her type.." "She is a telepath though so tricking her into something will be hard.. Plus in what I've read telepaths get most of their skill around their mid twenties." Panther said shocking the other two on how he would know that.

"Hm.." Is all Leon could say. "How do you know that?" Wolf asked. "Easy it's on their website and on the news..She's the only telepath in the Lylat system.." Wolf just shrugged knowing none of them had the time to read the papers, magazines or even watch TV "Well then if we get Krystal captured Fox will do anything for us and that's how we will win." Wolf smiled knowing this plan was golden.

"I have the voice changer we need to cook the bird.." Leon smiled "Now when do we put this plan into action?"


	43. XLIII Falco First

XLIII. Falco First

"Falco phone for you!" Katt yelled from across the room waking him up. "Who is it and why are they calling so early?" He asked groggily, "I'm not sure but it's urgent." "Fine.." He grumbled getting up and going towards the phone. "Hello?" He asked only hearing steady breathing from the other side. "Falco! We need help at Katina and you're the only pilot good enough to help us!" Falco smiled slightly "Alright I'll come to your location and you can brief me further there." The call ended and Falco headed to dress for combat only to be stopped by Katt.

On the other side of the wall Krystal was woken up from the argument starting. "Falco and Katt are at it again.." "Yeah..And Katt's winning." Fox added with a yawn. "Gee, four in the morning.." Fox grumbled before rolling over hoping to get to sleep. "They said they only needed me so there's no need to have you slow me down!" Falco could be heard throughout half of the building. "Yeah but if you don't let me go I'll just follow you! Knowing you you'll need the help with as much of trouble you get into." Katt yelled twice as loud.

Finally about half an hour later Falco let Katt come along and letting Fox and Krystal get some sleep. The last thing Krystal asked him was if they should go and make sure Falco would make it okay, he only responded with a "No" before falling back to sleep.

Falco was pestered by Katt the whole flight to Katina (Which had lasted three hours) and didn't look forward to explaining to the leader of this operation why he brought company. Falco and Katt flew in towards the location they were given, not knowing that they were being watched and were going into a trap. "Tell me again why we need to get back at that vulpine?..It's not like we will gain anything from it.." Panther asked "Wolf doesn't want to go soft and he's never beaten him that's why. Now shut up so I can block out all communications so there's no cry for help from the bird.." Leon snapped, happy that he was going to take out his rival today.

Suddenly a moment of much wanted silence came for Falco but it only worried him."Katt..? Katt?!" Falco asked over and over again still getting no response. "Dang no connection here...Must've lost a satellite or somethin'." Falco said to himself not stopping until he reached their destination.

"When do we make our 'Appearance'?" Wolf asked Leon "Soon..Falco brought a friend though." "Is it Fox?" Wolf asked again. "No..Well I hope not. It's probably Krystal, it's a pink ship." "I wouldn't be surprised if it were Fox in that.." Panther growled. "Let's go over this one more time.. We shoot down Falco down here and hopefully capture Krystal at the same time. Falco will be stranded for a couple of days here and then we can catch Fox when he has no backup..Plus if we have Krystal he won't even fight." Wolf said their whole plan over again expecting Krystal to be in the pink craft.

"Okay let's go start this, Arwing first then the other ship." Leon said and left for his Wolfen. "Finally.." Panther sighed getting into his as well. Falco and Katt were forced to revert to hand signals to communicate since their voices went unheard and Falco was surprised when he saw her point backwards towards three ships coming towards them from what seemed to be miles away. "They're so far I can't even catch them on radar.." Falco said to himself but they were going atleast three times the speed the Arwings could manage so he supposed it was a regular pedestrian flight trying to save time.

It wasn't until a minute later that he figured out that they were in the middle of nowhere and that whoever was behind them was trying to catch them. Soon he saw that they were Wolfens as well, without communications Katt and Falco would be basically fighting the three without any coordination. Luckily Star Wolf wouldn't be able to communicate either now, but he didn't know they already had a plan. Wolf Leon and Panther all charged shots to the maximum power their new ships could manage and fired at the lone Arwing sending it sputtering and barely staying above the ground.

"Oh come on!" Falco yelled trying his hardest to keep the ship up. He knew that even though he was as good of a pilot you could get he was in a losing battle versus the ship. He pulled up as hard as he could, almost pulling the joystick out and still couldn't manage a somersault. "Good-Night bird.." Leon said to himself before unleashing another charged shot sending Falco to the ground in a heap of burning metal.

Katt panicked and was of no use to the bird, she had been inactive from combat for a while now and was as nervous as ever. Finally she got a shot off at Panther only to pay for it when he somersaulted and shot her from behind wasting time while his teammates got set up for capturing her.

Panther gave out the signal to cut their operation seeing a new face in the cockpit this time. When Wolf and Leon saw her they remembered the face from the jobs she took with Falco when Fox was helping Sauria. "Just shoot her down." Wolf said trying to make it where the other two could read his lips but before he had even said it they had opened fire sending the ship down almost a mile away from Falco's.

Wolf smiled and signalled for them to head back to base, without radio communications the two would either die out there from the impact or they'd be stranded long enough to let them get to Fox without trouble. "Everything is working as planned.." Wolf said to himself and flew back to their temporary base.

_-Author's Note: First chapter in a while haven't been writing much on this fic but I have been writing some on the future ones, been busy lately. This one is almost done with Thanks for reading!-_


	44. XLIV Wrong Place, Wrong Time

XLIV. Wrong Place Wrong Time

"Well so much for a mission.." Falco muttered. Falco and Katt had been trying for what seemed to be ages to get the radio to work without any luck. "You apparently succeeded in it, this was a setup.." Katt replied. "Yeah right.. Wolf isn't smart enough for a plan like this..Plus who called me then!" Falco argued back even though he believed Katt was right. The one thing they didn't know was that Wolf and his team were moving on to their next unsuspecting target.

On Corneria Fox and Krystal had just gotten finished eating their breakfast when an idea suddenly popped to Krystal "Let's go see how Sauria is." She said to Fox, he could only smile "You don't like big cities much do you?" "I like places that are less...Busy." She said in response to him. "Alright let me tell Slippy, Falco might not be back for a few hours."

Fox went up to Slippy's room and told him that they were off to Sauria, it only made him want to go somewhere too. "I think I might go to Aquas, it's been too long since I've gone back." Slippy smiled at the vulpine hoping to meet up with a few old friends..If they still lived there.

"I hope Tricky doesn't think we're on our honeymoon just by going back.." Fox said to himself while trying to fuel up his Arwing enough to make it a one stop trip. "Well I don't really care what he says." Krystal responded making Fox jump slightly, he though he was alone for a moment. "I guess it doesn't matter.." Fox mumbled before fueling Krystal's Arwing.

"We won't make it to Sauria but we will get close.." Fox told Krystal as they left "We should make it to Fichina to refuel..Noone there so it would save time." Krystal responded to him. "Yeah, that's what I planned on." Fox said taking off alongside Krystal, Slippy had left just a few moments earlier and had a much shorter trip than them.

"Wow.." Fox said as they got out of their Arwings hours later in Fichina. It was crowded, even more than he had ever thought, but that wasn't why he said wow, the temperatures were at an all time low from the Climate Control Center shutting down for only one day. The vulpine shivered, the freezing temperatures hit him like a freight train, unluckily he decided to only wear his vest with nothing underneath along with pants. "It's freezing here lets just finish up.." Krystal said grabbing a fuel hose and fuelling her Arwing up.

Fox was walking behind the building to find a restroom when he heard a familiar voice, it was Wolf and Leon somewhere nearby talking and he prayed that they wouldn't find him or Krystal in the next three minutes they'd be spending there, a prayer that went unanswered. Wolf's senses kicked in and he could smell a familiar scent, his rival Fox was here on Fichina, what luck. "Leon new plan, Fox is here and Krystal's probably with him. Let's try to get this over with now." He said with the usual devious smirk.

"Panther come on.." Wolf snapped at him, Panther was flirting with a girl he had met at a bar on the planet and had held them up for hours now, agitating Wolf but now it proved to be fate leading him to fight Fox right here and now. Panther finally agreed to come out just to fight Fox and hopefully steal Krystal from him. "Fine but I get the first shot.." Panther growled following Wolf to their Arwings.

"Hurry Krystal Wolf is here and I sense he won't be friendly." Fox told Krystal trying somewhat to push her back into her cockpit. "You need to fill your Arwing up too!" Krystal told him getting out of the Arwing she had been pushed into. Fox sighed telling himself in his mind repetitively to hurry, but it was too late a shot from a blaster came flying in dangerously close to causing a massive explosion from the fuel.

"Get down!" Fox ordered to Krystal and she obeyed the order. Fox sighed ducking behind a low wall before putting his blaster up and returning fire. "I guess they aren't going to stay friendly.." Krystal muttered while sitting beside Fox. "Take a run for the Arwings..Mine should be fueled by now." Fox told her and she did as told once more.

Fox waited for Krystal to make it to the Arwing before getting up, hoping it would give him a chance for cover fire. Suddenly Krystal fell to the ground making Fox's heart almost stop, the thud of her hitting the ground was almost as loud as the short shriek she made, she had been shot.

"Krystal!" He yelled out after registering what had happened, he was relieved to see her trying to stand back up. Fox didn't even think twice before running out to help her, he picked her up and placed her inside her Arwing and put it on autopilot and got into his own hoping they could get away from the fight.

Fox didn't dare even looking at the wound now and focused on getting to Sauria (Or anywhere for that matter) where they would get away hopefully. "Fox.." She groaned still in a daze while the pain settled in. "You'll be fine.." Fox said sounding as nervous as ever showing her even without telepathy that he was as worried if not more than her. "Dang it!" Fox yelled seeing three Wolfens following him closely.

Luckily Fichina was very close to Sauria giving them a chance at surviving this fight they were not prepared for. Fox shivered now remembering how cold it was, but he didn't focus on it he was worried for Krystal at this point. "As soon as we get to Sauria I'll bandage that." Fox told her only hearing panting from her. "Stop running Fox..It's not what daddy would like." Wolf taunted him.

"We're gonna need to fight them.." Krystal told him and Fox knew she was right.

_-Author's Note: Not a very large chapter after a long absence but I'm getting tired and would like to end it with a "what happens" Kinda thing..Hope you enjoy next chapter soon to come hopefully-_


	45. XLV Dogfight Over Sauria

XLV. Dogfight Over Sauria

Fox scratched his head trying to think out where he and Krystal would go to escape from the three Wolfens behind him. "Fox look out!" Krystal tried to yell out still recovering from the wound she had received from Wolf's blaster, Fox noticed a bright light coming his way and flew out of the way knowing that light was laser fire. "Hopefully they won't follow us to Sauria..They shouldn't know the terrain there even if they do though." Fox told himself even though Krystal could hear.

"Don't worry about me You've been through worse." Krystal assured him that she'd be fine but he still didn't care, he would've rather taken the shot for her. Finally the planet was in sight and Fox flew in at top speed with Krystal to the planet's surface to get away from Wolf and his team. "Fox stop running like a girl.." Panther taunted him but it was ignored by Fox who was focused on getting to the areas he was familiar with. Fox managed to smile slightly flying over the areas where he had helped Krystal learn how to fly an Arwing but his smile didn't last long.

Fox's Arwing started shaking, he had been so focussed on getting to Sauria and helping Krystal that he hadn't noticed the engine damage he had taken from pushing it so hard. "Fox my engines about to blow" Krystal alerted him just as he found out his was too "Great." Fox sighed knowing now that he had two choices: Turn and fight Wolf here or try and surrender hoping he would leave it at that. "I really didn't want to deal with any of this stuff today." Fox told Krystal. "Let's just tell them that they win so they can leave us be." Krystal suggested Fox agreed with her hoping for the same results as she did.

"Guy's can you just leave us be!" Krystal cried out to them only to hear an evil laugh from the other end "Seriously Wolf, you win." Fox added in and hoped Wolf would just leave in an instant. "Fine Fox but I'll give you one more thing to clean up!" Wolf said and just as soon as he did he fired a last shot at Krystal's already crippled ship. "Catch.." Leon laughed as Krystal quickly went down towards the earth below. Fox put what was left of his engine to the test nearly ruining his own ship right there.

Fox didn't even notice the Wolfens leaving behind him, he was entirely focused on trying to help Krystal now. He thought quickly and hoped to soften the crash landing by flying under her for him to take most of the damage. Everything seemed to be in a blur to him he was asking himself how this could really be happening after succeeding against millions of Aparoids and other enemies it only took three to defeat him today. He blamed himself for everything that was happening Krystal followed his orders no matter what he said so everything was his fault.

Fox felt himself about to pass out from the speeds he was going at now praying this crazed plan would succeed unlike his other plans today. He saw the ground seeming to come closer and closer to him even though he was the one moving now. He waited for the bone crushing impact he would take from the collision with the ground for what seemed to be minutes instead of seconds. Finally the impact came Fox felt like a thousand pounds had dropped on him in an instant.

Out of all of the metal bending and glass breaking Fox found himself still miraculously in one peice but he didn't care about his condition, he knew Krystal had been through too much for one day already and didn't want to find out what happened to her but he would have to find a way out of the wreckage before he could check on her.

He tried to get his way out by strength and by squirming..It hardly did any good for him. "Fox.." He heard her moan hardly able to tell it was her. He just tried harder now hearing she was still alive and pushed all of his strength into getting out of the Arwing sandwich.

Minutes passed and finally the vulpine made it out of the wreckage, panting and exhausted from moving so many heavy items. He sighed knowing now he had to get Krystal out but she would be much easier seeing as he would just have to pull her out of her cockpit. He grabbed her and gently tried to pull her out, noticing now that she was unconscious and probably had been ever since the crash. Fox laid her down gently making sure not to make anything worse and called Slippy for help.

"Hey Fox what's up?" The toad asked hiding away at some party in Aquas. "I need help now, either you or Peppy need to come here it's a medical emergency." Fox blurted out as fast as he could making it hardly understood to Slippy. "Alright I'll call Peppy in, just hang in there." The frog responded with a smile not hiding his attempts at looking around the vulpine for any injuries.

The vulpine ended the call moments later trying to sit upright next to Krystal, now feeling a terrible pain in his arm that he knew from experience was broken. Fox sighed knowing nightfall was soon to come and they would be waiting almost all night before Peppy made it, he just didn't know if Krystal would make it that long.

_-Author's Note: This was supposed to be the end of the last chapter but I couldn't get it finished last night, enjoy and thanks for reading!__


	46. XLVI Waiting For Help

XLVI Waiting For Help

Fox sighed at his luck bandaging Krystal's wound again and again, the vixen hadn't woken up since their crash and showed no signs of waking soon either. He couldn't believe how terrible this day was going, he lost to his rival but worse the love of his life was dying and he couldn't do anything about it. Slippy had sent help to him but who knew when that would show up, it was almost dark and it would probably be freezing at night where they were.

Fox was more worried now than he ever had been in his life noticing that Krystal was already shivering "Fox.." She mumbled, Fox wasn't sure if she was awake or not. "Yeah?" He asked hoping that she was conscious. "We're gonna die here aren't we?" She asked him proving she was indeed awake and afraid of their situation. "No, I'm going to make sure of it." He said now embracing her in a hug feeling that her body was freezing somehow. "How long until we're rescued?" She asked him again another question he didn't know the true answer of. "Peppy won't be long..He knows the severity of this situation." Fox told her "You need to rest though, Peppy will be here before you know it." He assured her again bringing a slight smile from the shivering vixen.

"I can't even move.." She whispered to him physically unable to move a muscle in her body from the pain. "Peppy won't be long..Things will be okay just trust me." He assured her again and again but her questions and statements to him kept coming, for the first time he knew for a fact she was scared to death. He hardly felt any pain other than his arm when he laid still but when he tried to move his body it hurt like he was hit by a truck.

Hours and hours passed by but the two didn't even move an inch, the temperature was way below freezing now and it was freezing the two foxes struggling to survive. Finally what seemed to be days later a modified Arwing landed near them and Peppy came out. Fox put all his strength into getting up and helping Peppy get Krystal onto a stretcher, he refused to go on a stretcher himself.

"So what happens now?" She asked him slightly groaning in pain from moving. "Well before you know it you'll be all better.." He told her before giving her a shot to numb her pain and the second one to knock her out. Fox didn't take anything and just held Krystal's hand the whole way monitoring her status and making sure she was okay.

_~Author's Note: I've been very very busy lately so I haven't had much time to write and when I have tried to write I've sat braindead at the screen, I'm supposing it's the loss of action or maybe just getting to the end of the story and trying for perfection but this is by far one of the shortest chapters I've ever done and definitely too short for my own liking. I'm going to say though I WILL NOT LEAVE THIS STORY UNFINISHED but definitely after I'm done writing this which might take a little bit longer than expected to do I will probably take a break from writing before getting onto my next stories. This chapter really is meant as an update saying I'm not giving up on this and I'm not dead ahah.~_


	47. XLVII Recovery

XLVII. Recovery

Fox tapped his foot waiting for the doctor to come back with the list of Krystal's injuries, they had finally gotten back to Corneria. "It's not good, she'll have to stay here for a day or two." Was his response and it wasn't in a 'She'll be just fine' tone either. "Well..Can I have more details?" He asked making sure she'd be fine in the long run but not expecting to hear what he wanted to. "She's broken a couple of ribs and her leg. Luckily the wound wasn't deep so she'll heal in no time." Fox was relieved it ended there. "Is it okay if I see her?" He asked him and the doctor nodded and left him.

Before the vulpine could even see his love he heard a female voice yelling out his name "Fox McCloud phone call for you and it's urgent!". Fox headed towards her wondering who could possibly be calling him now, only Peppy and maybe Slippy knew where he was. "Hello?" Fox said to whoever was on the other side of the line. "Fox, Wolf shot Katt and me down." Fox could tell Falco was on the other end of the line panting for breath. Fox was so shocked that his ace pilot had been taken down that he didn't bother to ask how he knew where he was.

"We had to walk a few miles to finally get to a town." Falco finished "Yeah they got us too.." Fox said with a slightly depressed voice. "Yeah Peppy told me I called him first, apparently Krystal got a little roughed up?" "Yeah..Look I'll call you later Falco just get back here." Fox said to him Falco sighed "Well my Arwings gonna take a couple days to repair and an extra day to even get here but as soon as I get that done I'll be right to you." Fox hung up the phone then and headed to see Krystal for the first time since they had been shipped to the hospital.

"Krystal?" He said quietly seeing if she was awake she responded by weakly saying "Hi" to him but nothing more, he could tell she was barely awake. "How long are we going to be here?" She asked him "Soon..Everything will be back to normal soon." He tried to reassure her but she doubted things would be the same after this for some reason. "How's your injuries?" She asked him obviously seeing he was in better condition than her. "I just hurt my arm somehow..I'd rather have us trade places." She knew he would say something quick like that, he always tried to whenever he had the chance.

There was nothing left to say for them now, she could tell Fox was actually somehow taking this worse than she was now atleast emotionally. She feared that this incident would cause him to give up the work he loved to do so she kept scanning his thoughts with her natural ability until she finally fell asleep hoping she would be wrong.

Luckily with the improved medical equipment Krystal was able to be back on her feet in just barely more than a week, Fox was already training himself again on the simulators until the team got their next mission which never seemed to come and Fox was glad about his needed time off. With the lack of missions though the crew's patience was tested, Falco already was talking about making his own team like he had always wanted and Slippy was running to Aquas more than twice a week for reasons unknown. Fox and Krystal did what they could together still managing to go on dates every once and a while but not near like either of them would like, Krystal was still recovering getting her confidence back up to fly an Arwing again. She only flew in the simulator and maybe at most sightseeing with Fox. The team was hit hard by not only the loss of Krystal as a pilot but also the lack of missions a day didn't go by that Fox didn't think his team was about to disband for the last time.

_-Author's Note: Another short but this is like i've said before about to end and this is to get me started up again, I'm done with my modding projects for now and I'm glad to be writing again and I look forward to finishing this up, Thanks for everyone who still is reading this after all the time of absence I WILL NOT stop writing until this is done and until I've finished a few more projects (Shorter of course).-_


	48. XLVIII Another Mission

XLVIII. Another Mission

Fox heard a loud knocking at the door sighed and got up to see who it was. "Hello?" Fox asked but nobody was there, only a note with _Star Fox _written on the front of it. He read the note hoping it would say who sent it.

"Star Fox I require some assistance from your team, nobody else has been able to complete this task so please meet me at the East Cornerian Park at 3 P.M."

"Ugh.." Was his response as he went back to bed next to Krystal who had been up all night in the simulator getting ready to get back into the cockpit of her Arwing soon. "Who was that?" She moaned to him half asleep still. "Someone left a note..Just go back to sleep." He quickly fell back to sleep not even thinking about what mission was ahead.

Fox groaned a while later finally waking up, he glanced over to the clock and saw that it was 2:46. At first that was no big deal to him after a long night but then he remembered his meeting with whoever wanted them to do this new mission. He had no time to lose so he ran into the shower and jumped out in the blink of an eye, put on something decent to wear and headed out the door to meet this new person.

Fox arrived at the park just a minute late but found someone sitting at a bench looking at her watch, maybe that was who he was to meet. She was another Fox like himself, even the same color fur but none of that mattered, he just hoped she was the right person. "Umm Hello there.." He told her getting her attention. "Ah yes I've been waiting for you." Thankfully it was the right person.

"Fox hopefully you and your team can help me out.." She started off _"No time for small talk.." _He thought listening to her story. "My husband worked for the Cornerian Army and was sent to check out a new possibly threat near Venom..It's been a week since and I haven't heard from him, hardly anybody will be brave enough to go and whoever has gone hasn't come back too." "_Greaaaaat.." _was what he thought at that moment. "So will your team be brave enough to go?" He sighed unable to say no to anybody in need but as far as he knew Venom was a wasteland since Andross had been destroyed..Twice.

"Alright we'll head out as soon as I tell them the news." He said with a slight smile of nervousness. "Great..Then I'll need to know how to pay you." "Just give us a check when we're done or whatever you want." He didn't want to sit and chat knowing his vacation with Krystal was going to end in a matter of hours. Thankfully their chat ended soon and Fox was on his way to tell Slippy and Krystal of their news.

"Wait what?! Venom?" Slippy exclaimed, Falco harped in over the phone "She's crazy there's nothing there anymore we made sure of it." "Well apparently something's there and we need to check it out..We'll set out in a couple of hours so don't go off somewhere." Fox said and the team agreed and headed off to their separate things.

Hours later 3 Arwings arrived near Venom, Krystal was on communications with them but she wasn't ready to fly in combat yet and Fox wouldn't let her even if she had wanted to so early. "I don't see anything..Not even Venom." Falco said in amazement they should be near the planet now. "That means there's something blocking it from our view.." Fox said trying to find out what was happening. "Or maybe our maps are wrong." Slippy added in to the conversation.

"Wait Venom's over there..Maps are messed up." Fox sighed, this had never happened before and he didn't think it was even possible. "Something's up, this isn't just a regular error." Krystal added in checking the computer she was at. "Crap look out!" Fox yelled out seeing a ton of ships coming their way.

Laser fire was flying everywhere and Fox could hardly avoid it, Slippy was hit twice and Falco avoided it like Fox. "Return fire!" Fox commanded but he didn't even need to say it for the team to join in on the battle.

They were outnumbered there were more than a thousand of them and they swarmed like bees. The team shot what seemed to be hundreds of them before Fox finally decided they needed to retreat from this one. Whoever they needed to save was either captured by them or was shot down by these new enemies. "Fall back! General Pepper will need to hear about this." Fox yelled out.

The team sighed but they knew they had no chance. "So where to now Fox?" Slippy asked. "Back to Corneria I guess..Until we get more numbers that is."

_-Author's Note: Another short one..But I have the next chapter already written I'm just checking it and improving it..Very Very short action scene but more to come before the end.-_


	49. XLIX Falling Apart

XLIX. Falling Apart.

The crew as a whole was disappointed, looking back and seeing the swarm of whatever they had just fought. "I can't believe this, who did this while we were busy with the Aparoids?" Fox asked still firing at a few of the enemies following them. "I don't think they did this just while the Aparoids were around, we haven't been near Venom in years." Slippy responded. "I can't believe we had to retreat.." Was all Falco could manage to say the thoughts of some of his conversations with Katt bugging him quite a bit already.

"Well we had to..Not much we can do there.." Slippy said, disappointed that their trip had been in vain. "Well we could've killed atleast a hundred, their accuracy is terrible.." Falco muttered. "I'm not taking the chance of getting any ship problems out here." Fox said expecting it to end there, but Falco came back with a response noone could've expected. "Well Fox I think after we get back I'm going to try and start up my own team with Katt." Falco's remark was followed by gasps.

_"Great..Lost Peppy and Falco in the same week." _Fox thought to himself knowing Peppy was now packing up for his next job, to replace General Pepper. "Falco don't leave." Krystal was the first to say, Fox knew he wouldn't change his mind, the lack of missions and having to follow Fox's rules all the time was not his style. "Fox?" Slippy asked snapping him from his thoughts. "Huh..Oh Falco well I guess just do whatever you want to." They were surprised he didn't try to get him to stay back. "Whatever makes you happy is fine with me."

"Well thanks Fox, Krystal and Slippy but I think I'm done here until you guys need me, you'll know who to call." Falco told them hours later after he had packed his things. This wasn't the only time he had left them and Fox knew Falco would leave sooner or later. The Star Fox team was falling apart and the memories of the previous events haunted Fox's mind driving him crazy.

"Fox where are you going?" Krystal asked him noticing him trying to slip out of the hotel room, they were still staying there awaiting the next Great Fox to be built after it's destruction in the final battle of the Aparoid War. "For a walk..Somethings bothering me." Was all he said and left before she could ask him of it, his sudden coldness bothering her mentally and emotionally.

The next day Fox sighed flying his normal Arwing, normally he would be happy flying around Corneria without any missions but he was fighting back tears from what had happened just hours before. It had still been haunting him the fact that he couldn't protect Krystal as much as he had expected from himself and what followed he knew ruined his life as he knew it.

"What?" Krystal laughed slightly thinking it was some kind of joke, her eyes seemed to be looking into his very soul right now. "Krystal I think it's just best if you stay here for a few months until this is resolved and then I'll disband Star Fox for good." She couldn't believe her ears, Falco just left a day ago and Slippy was spending most of his time traveling back and forth to Aquas. "F-Fox please tell me you're joking." She seemed to be begging already telling from her telepathy that he was serious.

Fox gulped yet stood his ground even though his heart told him otherwise "Krystal I just think things would be better for me to work alone with Slippy, It won't take long I promise and all the money I get will go towards you. When I'm done we can forget about all of this and move wherever you want and start a fa-" "Fox if you do this there will be no coming back to me, You would've already broken one promise so how could I trust you to do that?" She interrupted him knowing she could change his mind, she knew he didn't want to do this. He knew that by doing this he would break the promise and swear he made that he would stay beside her no matter what.

Fox saw that Krystal was on the verge of crying and he knew he was breaking her heart with every single word but it was better than watching her in pain or even worse - dying. "Krystal..I seriously just can't-" "Fox if you care about me at all you'll know that I want to be with you." He knew that for a fact but this was the only way for him to solve this.

His mind raced there was no Great Fox for her to be at and the mission he was on _had _to be done. At the same time his heart was tearing like Krystal's as the time kept going by, what he'd give to just be able to disband what was left of his team right there and let somebody else take care of everything like Falco's soon to be team. "Krystal, I really do love you. If you need to read my mind or whatever but I seriously just need to do this last part with Slippy."

Just like that he lost the love of his life and also another pilot. "Is this even worth it anymore?" He asked himself flying off into the depths of space.

_**-Author's Note: I wanted to get this chapter out the other night but had stuff to edit, hopefully the next chapter will be out tommorow depending on how things go...My family has been talking about moving recently which is kinda bad for me since I've lived here for 13 years..Anyhow with the obvious reasons I might be late on those chapters. Also I've finally finished the final part of this story even though I honestly hate the twist on command.-**_


	50. L Depressing Times

L. Depressing Times

"Your time was one minute twenty five seconds" R.O.B. told Fox, he gave a quick smile for beating his record from months ago but his happiness was short lived. "I'm coming back I think I'm done for the day.." Fox said depressingly memories of Krystal still bothering him.

It was still late afternoon but sleep seemed like a good idea for him, his mind kept wondering what Krystal could be doing right now. It had been bothering him more and more now due to two years ago around this time he had saved her atop of Krazoa Palace.

Unknown by Fox, Krystal was asking herself the same questions about him. What could he be doing now, she supposed he was just flying his Arwing. _"How could he betray me like this.." _She thought to herself unable to stop looking at the necklace she was wearing which Fox had given her long ago thinking about memories of when she thought her life was perfect. "Well hello there Krystal.." A familiar voice said to her. "P-Panther?" She looked up and saw him sitting on the other side of the table. "What are you doing here?" She asked him slightly annoyed that just a few months ago he had been shooting at her and now he was acting like they were friends.

She was asking for attention though, sitting alone inside a restaurant and being a former member of the team everybody had questions about. "I was walking by and saw you here without Fox and thought I'd make my move.." He slightly growled at her only making her disgusted. "I'd love to stay and chat but I've got plans.." She told him and wasn't lying, she had just joined the Cornerian Military because it was the closest she'd get to Star Fox after being removed. "It's all over the magazines, Fox fired you didn't he?" Panther asked being as persistent as ever. "I still should be leaving." She said trying to make her escape "Well then just call this if you ever change your mind, I could get you in Star Wolf quite easily so you can get your revenge." He wrote down a number and gave it to her before she stormed off.

"I can't believe he thinks I'm after revenge.." She said to herself although the idea was getting to her just because she knew it would hit Fox hard if she joined Wolf and his team. She couldn't believe what she was thinking, join Fox's biggest enemy just so he might understand how big this affected her but sadly she knew in her heart that Fox had done this to protect her and not to hurt her.

"Incoming call from Slippy." R.O.B. Said aboard the new Great Fox which was ten times smaller than the older one. "I'm coming." Fox said unenthusiastically. "Hey Fox!" Slippy said seeming as happy as ever if not happier. "Hey Slip, what's up?" Fox returned trying to force a smile. "Well I'm getting married soon and thought I'd tell you first." Fox couldn't believe it, he had lost the love of his life and now Slippy was getting married but he knew Slippy deserved it for all the good work he had put in and how nice he was. "That's great but to who?" Fox tried acting a little happier but he couldn't seem to smile after what had happened over the past few months. "Amanda, I met her here on Aquas a while back." "There's an attack on Corneria City." R.O.B. interrupted their conversation. "Slippy I think that means I'm needed." Fox was shocked that someone would attack after things seemed slightly peaceful.

Almost on cue Peppy called in to Fox telling him the same information. "Fox I need you to go take them out ASAP." Peppy was now the General of the Lylat System's military and proud of it. "Alright I'm on my way." Fox told him "I'll head over to help out Fox!" Slippy said even though by the time he got to Corneria the enemy would be long gone.

"These things again?" Fox asked himself seeing the same enemies from near Venom to be the culprits behind the attacks. He didn't have much time to think before they discovered his presence they all took off after him. Fox looked down on the screen in his Arwing and saw more than twenty red dots surrounded him. He was still confident he could win the battle seeing that they weren't very well trained pilots.

Fox's head was spinning from the barrel rolls he had to do to avoid their fire, every shot was deflected away leaving his enemy frustrated. Fox opened fire as soon as he stopped rolling destroying a few of the fighters but also getting shot at himself. Fox left his Arwing vulnerable and paid for it by taking a few hits to his left wing causing his ship to be unsteady but the damage wasn't too bad.

Despite his last result Fox stopped rolling once more to get a few more shots off and was lucky not to be hit while damaging a few more ships but bringing down none. "This isn't getting me anywhere.." Fox told himself before doing the one thing he had hoped not to, waste a bomb on the first group but they were grouped up tempting him even further. He refused not to not knowing what was ahead and kept firing away with his blasters destroying a couple more and rolling away once more to deflect fire.

Suddenly Fox saw a blinding light and then the ships were disintegrated. "Looks like you need some help there bud!" Slippy said to him. "Yeah I was trying to conserve my supplies." Was Fox's response. "How'd you get here so fast anyhow?" "I was just in sector Y Fox so I was close enough to lend a hand." Fox was relieved he had help in this mission. "Well let's go get the next group." Fox told him and they both headed as fast as they could towards the nearest group of enemies they could see on radar.

"So Fox do you know what's happened to Krystal?" Slippy asked him after clearing another group of enemies. "No I don't but I wish I could redo that whole situation." He admitted , normally he wouldn't be so truthful but now it didn't matter to him. "Well I'm sure you could find her and tell her the truth she'd understand." Slippy told him, part of him knowing Fox would be able to set things straight. "Well finding her is the hard part.." Fox sighed looking down on the city where he had left her at a few weeks earlier. "This is the last for the night Slip so let's just obliterate them." Fox said just as he loaded his next bomb in to fire.

_-Author's Note: I've actually trashed this chapter 2 times previously I'm just uploading this one because It's been a while since last upload, haven't had the time since im going to be moving soon, Thanks for reading everyone who is still watching this and hopefully my next upload will be as long as I was expecting this one to be but I had to cut it short..Thanks for reading hopefully not many mistakes and next chapter will focus more on Krystal than Fox probably before ending this story out in like 10 chapters or so. Thanks once again for reading!-_


	51. LI Strategy

LI. Strategy

Krystal sighed looking down at a card Panther had given her from their last meeting, she had skipped all of her plans for the past two days stuck at a crossroad. She couldn't believe she was actually considering joining the group of scum known as Star Wolf. She thought they might just have some good in them if she were to join, they did help Fox against the Aparoids so they couldn't be purely evil but then again she would have to also forget all of the harassment and injuries she had gotten thanks to them as well. She was sure she wouldn't join until she saw an Arwing flyby overhead around the outskirts of the city and another one following close behind.

"Fox! Get up and answer the call!" Slippy yelled out forcing Fox's ears to go up and his eyes to open. "Who could be calling for me.." Fox mumbled looking over at the clock and seeing he had slept through most of the day already, the common schedule he had taken recently. He had a slight spark of hope that it could perhaps be Krystal wanting to speak with him but his happiness was short-lived when he saw it was Falco who was calling. "What could he want?" Fox groaned and answered the call.

"What's up Falco?" Fox said, not even fully awake now. "Slippy told me you guys were facing some new enemies and I was wondering if you had room for one more." Falco said almost like he had rehearsed it a few times. "Well we'd love to have you but what happened to Star Falco?" Fox wondered if he should even ask. "We couldn't get another member and it's more expensive than it looks." Fox was tempted just to give Falco all of the items he owned from Star Fox after crushing their new enemy, this lifestyle was getting old to him without Krystal. "I'm on my way Fox I'll be there in a couple of hours and then we'll get to business."

Krystal tried to keep from crying and actually entered Star Wolf's new hideout, an abandoned building from the look of it outside. She was going to be their newest member and she hoped this move would get Fox's attention and maybe even an apology."Hello?" Krystal asked noticing the room to look more 'homely' than she expected. "I knew you'd come Krystal." Panther said smirking and pulled her into the next room. "You invited Star Fox scum here?" Wolf snarled "No she got fired remember so she's homeless now." Leon joined in. "Yeah but she's looking for work now and this one would hurt Fox almost as much as being fired." Panther explained to them why he invited her. "She's a terrible pilot." Wolf said not even glancing up to see his new recruit.

"If I'm terrible what does that make you? Considering you guys only beat us once out of hundreds." Krystal replied bringing a gasp from Panther, he hadn't expected her to have much of an attitude although he had only been around her for about 8 hours total. "Well I guess we could use a pilot better than Panther.." Leon said chuckling slightly at his own joke. Krystal was already disliking this, could they even go five minutes without an insult. Of course she hadn't been there two minutes and it seemed they were at each other's throats. "You do know we're wanted right?" Wolf added in. Krystal had no idea they were being serious at the time. "Whatever I just want to fly and get my revenge on Fox I don't care about payment." She acted, she didn't want to fight Fox at all she just wanted to snap him to reality and hopefully to get an apology and an offer back where she belonged.

"Angry now aren't we?" Wolf laughed at her wants from the team. "Alright you're in..You're also a tele--whatever right?" "Yeah.." "Cool then what am I thinking about?" She read his thoughts only for a split second and stopped almost instantly when she saw Fox saving her on Sauria with his Arwing after she had been shot down. "I'm surprised you can even think of anything.." She smirked and walked out of the building heading for her apartment. It was only five minutes and she left with an insult almost like they would, she was already disgusted in herself.

"So get any information on what we're up against?" Fox asked a very tired Slippy who had been up most of the night. "Yeah, also Falco came in last night with some news you might like to hear." "I'll hear that later when he gets in here first I want to know what we're fighting." "They're from Venom and I think they live underwater there. From this picture I would expect they are the Anglar, A very old race of fish-like creatures that haven't been seen in years." Slippy showed Fox a photo Slippy had taken of an Anglar and his ship in the battle a couple of days before. "But nothing could live in that area...You k-" "They're ships have an amount of aluminum in them and they can fly in and out easily from that sea." "Okay I stand corrected then..So what do we do make aluminum Arwings and just go wreck their base?" Fox asked hastily.

"Fox you know that won't work plus they're invading planet's almost like the Aparoids." "Wow that fast huh?" Fox was slightly worried now, he thought they'd be easy but if these fish were as dangerous as the Aparoids he wasn't going to make it through this. "Yeah they swarm quickly..Anyhow I've got a map ready, we can still stop them!" Slippy pulled out a few very large maps. "They are attacking around bases first then cities, luckily Corneria City wasn't hit too hard because we took them out quick enough."

"Hey Fox, since when do you go to bed before midnight?" Falco asked obviously slightly confused on why Fox was asleep when he came in. "Well I'm just tired recently..What's the news you wanted to tell me?" "Wolf contacted me..Complaining that he couldn't get a hold of you..And well.." Falco seemed nervous to finish. "Apparently Krystal wanted revenge and.." Slippy added also unable to break it to the vulpine. "She joined Star Wolf to get back at you." Falco finally blurted it out as fast as possible. Fox sat there not believing what he heard. "This isn't a joke Fox." Slippy said as sympathetically as possible. Fox fell backwards, the wall the only thing keeping him from hitting the ground hard. "Fox?" Falco poked at him, no response. "I-I just need some time alone right now." Fox said after a couple minutes of just sitting there on the floor but he remained still. Slippy and Falco finally left him a minute later.

He finally found the strength to get up and walk to his own separate room almost half an hour later, he couldn't believe how stupid his idea was weeks ago. The fact that he had actually acted upon that idea was even worse, he flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. He definitely had never felt so terrible in his life.

-Author's Note: Hopefully not many errors I've had to go up and down this page to make fixes..From what I've seen it's been fine. Thanks for the support you guys have given over the past few days and in response to the review asking if I was going for the biggest fanfic on this site for SF..No I'm not aiming for that I'm just the kind of person who wants to put all of it into one..As this fanfic grows to a close I am excited and also saddened slightly..This has been very very fun to write and nothing I write will ever be as long or the same probably even though I'll be happy to start new ones . Also My Fanfic wouldn't even be close to the biggest one due to my chapters are incredibly small compared to most I try to get my chapters out quickly like this one..only 1212 words (Lol) I think of my chapters more like "pages" But sadly also I'm afraid the length of 60+ Chapters will scare people off reading it..But it hasn't stopped you guys so far and it's you who keep me going! In fact already this story has averaged around 2 thousand views a month which I didn't even imagine possible when I started but I was new to this place and I have improved tons! Thanks for reading and hopefully this long author's note hasn't put you to sleep. Hopefully my next chapter will be out soon-


	52. LII Old Love, New Enemy

LII. Old Love, New Enemy?

Fox sighed looking at the item Krystal had given him what seemed to be ages ago..It was a replica of her staff and they were the only two with them. "So much for being there for her.." He muttered to himself afraid of what was next to come, this was a much harder hit than the Anglar could attempt on him.

"Fox come on we need to get back to business! We've run into some Anglar." Falco yelled. They were out in the middle of space now and nobody could hear a call for backup if they needed it. "Alright I'm coming.." Fox finally said in a tone Falco had never heard before. Fox got into his Arwing and headed out to wherever the Anglar may be.

"I can't see anything out here other than rocks.." Fox sighed about to give up on the search, maybe the radar was glitched. "Must be they all have disappeared.." Slippy replied watching most of the dots fade quickly. "Wait you hear that?" Falco asked then looked up seeing someone else had started their work for them almost half a mile above them.

"Who could they be?" Falco asked but coming closer it seemed to be Star Wolf. "Hello Falco.." Leon snarled seeing his Arwing from the corner of his eye. "Falco's here?!" Krystal asked sounding surprised and slightly excited at the same time. She didn't know Fox and Slippy were there too. "The whole team's here to ruin our fun.." Wolf said seeing the other two Arwings. Apparently Star Wolf wanted to have some practice on the Anglar in this area. "Come on let's just leave here, they've beat us to it." Fox tried to say before Slippy's ship was taking fire from Wolf. "Not too fast Fox..You'll be more challenging than these scrubs." Wolf told them. "Yes and we have the upperhand again..Your old girlfriend joined us Fox.." Leon hissed at him in the normal tone.

Fox didn't want to believe Falco earlier when he had told him but now he had to accept that Krystal was against him now and probably even hated him and hate wasn't even in her dictionary before now. "Krystal.." He muttered to himself sighing not knowing what to do, he could stall and not shoot at the person who meant the most to him and eventually get destroyed or he could fire at her and make things worse between them. Fox just wanted to make amends at this point because he knew he needed her. "Oh she won't be needing you anymore.." Panther growled at him, Fox didn't even know they could hear him until it was too late.

The truth was she wanted to make amends too and get over this, after hours of being with Star Wolf she felt herself beginning to change slightly every moment. "I'll take Fox by myself." She told her new team bringing gasps and chuckles from everyone, Fox stayed silent. "She really hates your guts now..She'll roast you!" Wolf laughed, even though he wanted to be the one to take Fox down this would just add insult to his terrible injuries. She was reading his mind and emotions feeling that he was in the same pain as she was and maybe even worse. She chose to go for Fox knowing his current emotional state would make him weak especially against her.

Her new team agreed to leave Fox to her until they finished off Falco and Slippy expecting her to actually try against her old love. The dogfight begun the second Wolf gave his commands with Falco firing at all four of the ships before flying off at top speed, trying to just fly in and out of the battle doing as much damage as he could. Slippy followed Falco at a much slower rate becoming a distraction for the avian to fly by again doing some more damage to Leon, Panther and Wolf's ships. Next was the hardest decision, Fox against Krystal and the two had just sat there in shock for the past twenty seconds, shocked by their situation.

Finally Krystal made the first move not even able to imagine what her new team would do to her if she didn't do anything at all. Fox was hit and snapped back into his senses, deciding to evade her to try and hopefully save their friendship at the least part of him knowing she didn't hate him or dislike him at all. He tried his hardest to dodge her fire, miraculously dodging every shot (Although she wasn't even trying).

While Fox and Krystal were wasting their time the real battle ensued with Slippy and Falco already putting one Wolfen out of action. It was Panther's, he had made the mistake of trying to find Falco other than just putting Slippy out of action first. "Krystal how's the battle over there?" Panther asked her, starting conversation because he had nothing else to do. "I've got him on the run but I can't hit him." She tried to sound like she was trying but she wasn't.

The fight was finally even, Falco and Slippy could finally chose a different plan. "Slip take Wolf..I'll take Leon." Falco ordered. "Why do I have to take Wolf..that's Fox's job!" Slippy whined. "Because Fox is fighting Krystal..Go thank him for kicking her off of the team." Falco said back getting a lock on Leon and grinning. "Oof!" Falco yelled out as his Arwing shook wildly. One of Krystal's shots had hit Falco accidentally but she couldn't say she would regret that after all she put up with from him.

Fox sighed knowing his place now. As the leader he had to do his job no matter what it affected and here it affected his hopeful future friend. Fox turned quick and finally fired the first laser hitting her ship severely, causing major damage with just one shot. He could take her out of this fight now but couldn't manage to pull the trigger on her. She however was furious at the vulpine's sudden attack and fired at him out of primal rage. She hadn't known what she had done until it was too late. Fox's cockpit started blinking red and a blaring siren turned on signalling to him that he was in trouble. "I've gotta bail..I'm sorry guys." Fox said for the first time in his career as he put what power he could into the thrusters and headed off towards the Great Fox, hoping Krystal would show mercy and not shoot him while he headed back.

"Nice job Krystal..I guess he trained you too well.." Wolf chuckled fighting off Slippy's ship with ease. "Come help me get this bird down next.." Leon grunted while pulling up as hard as he could. Falco was causing him problems. All they could hear was a loud noise from her and her ship sat still. Krystal couldn't control herself and had covered the voice receptor so she could cry without getting attention. Fox had only done this for her safety and she knew it yet she still kept hurting him and it wasn't helping. If she could survive it she would leave Star Wolf very soon, she was scared that they would actually go berserk if she had just quit them after joining.

Wolf abandoned the fight with Slippy to help out Leon against Falco. Falco never saw it coming and his ship couldn't recover and soon it was three versus one. Slippy knew he couldn't do it so he decided he should bail and not waste the money to repair even further damage. "See ya coward" Wolf laughed at Slippy firing as much as he could trying to hit the retreating Arwing. Star Wolf now had an edge on the Star Fox team and had also won two in a row counting their surprise attack.

Star Wolf headed back towards their newest space base to relish in their newest victory while Fox and his team sat in the Great Fox plotting out their next location and not focusing on anything except fighting the Anglar.

_-Author's Note: It's late..very late so I might've left a couple of spelling errors in this..But what I read seemed fine..but I do know I mispelled words like using knew when i meant new and etc...I think I caught them all..Alert me if i didn't. Hope you enjoy this chapter and hopefully next chapter to come soon..I'm starting to get into a "Groove" of things. Thanks for Reading!-_


	53. LIII Temporary Treaties

LIII. Temporary Treaties

Krystal headed straight for her room ignoring the rest of the team hoping to just get some sleep. She sighed, hearing the arguments of Wolf and Leon still raging outside her door, they were far worse than Falco and Slippy's fights too. She was worried, what did Fox think of her now after what she had done, what would happen if she just quit Star Wolf right now and what would she do if she quit. She had no job or home other than this so she was stuck here until god knows when.

She needed to go somewhere, just to fly off and maybe even never come back to this dump again. She hopped into her ship and flew to the only place in mind to cheer her up, Sauria. The place now would bring her bittersweet memories. When she landed in her usually area she noticed an Arwing also parked in the area, the small badge on the side showing that it was the captain's ship and she knew Fox would be there. She was nervous to even get out of her ship but something told her to do it and she acted upon the voice in her head.

She looked around and the place was just as magnificent as it was years ago when she first saw it. Then she saw Fox just sitting there on the hillside looking at her with a weird expression on his face and was noticeably blushing from the unexpected visitor. "H-hey there.." He stuttered quietly, barely able to talk. It seemed as if time had reverted and now he was just as nervous around her if not more than the time they met.

"Hey.." She grumbled quietly feeling the moment getting awkward. "What are you doing here?" He finally asked her. "Same thing you are.." She sighed sitting down next to him and hoping it would help ease the tension. "I'm going to tell you the truth..Doing what I did to you was the worst thing I've ever done. I wish I could just change it back to what we had but now you're with Star Wolf so I won't be able to make it up to you."

It took extreme self control to keep her from hugging the vulpine in a vice-grip after hearing him say that. "I hate Star Wolf..It's terrible but it's all I have after you kicked me out of my home and the only family I had." "I know that..I wasn't thinking and wanted to protect you because I know I can't always keep you safe." This was her ticket away from Star Wolf and to end this stupid fight they were having, finally they could be together again as a team or just retire with the money they've earned and start a family.

"So will you take me back?" Fox asked her after she had been quiet for quite some time now.

"Of course." Was her answer, making him smile the biggest she had ever seen. "I love you Krystal.." He said before kissing her. "I love you too, Fox." She returned his kiss and was truly happy for the first time in the past month.

She was just about to fly back to the Great Fox with him when she felt a nudge on her shoulder, a painful one. Drowsily she opened her eyes to see Panther behind her with a slightly disgusted expression. "You still want him back?" He asked making her blush. She had been talking in her sleep apparently and Panther had been there to witness it. "I don't know..Just leave me alone." She told him cruelly making him leave the next second.

"It was so real..Why can't one good thing happen for me?!" She almost yelled hitting the bed with her fists and releasing the anger she had built up.

Unknown by her Fox and his team were trying to find a new member for their team, just to help out until the Anglar invasion ended. "How about Bill?" Fox suggested knowing his old friend still liked flying. "Nah.." Falco said before gulping. "Fox ..We need Krystal, she helped us out alot." Falco finally told him not sure of what Fox would say. "Good luck..She hates my guts you saw what happened out there." He tried not to sound hurt by it but he was honestly devastated at this point."She's miserable at Star Wolf..I can tell." Falco told him. "Yeah and she started crying after she put you out of the battle, she still cares for you." Slippy added in.

As if her world couldn't get any worse she got a call and expected to find someone with the wrong number on the other end of the line as usual. She sighed answering the call to find Slippy on the other end of the line. "Slippy?!" She asked in shock that he would even talk to her after earlier. "Hey Krystal..We need some help with the Anglar and we're wondering if you could fill in." Slippy said nervously. "I don't know if I can.." She sighed. "Well actually I'll help on one condition..." Krystal smiled slightly. "Get Fox on the phone, now." If she was to help them she needed an apology from the vulpine ASAP. "Fox get over here!" She heard Slippy yelling even though he covered the phone. "Umm, hey." He said sheepishly, she pictured him blushing too now that he was talking to her after their incident. "If I'm to help I need an apology from you." She told him sternly. "I'm sorry Krystal." He said quietly making it hard for her to hear him. "Louder." She said trying to stop from giggling at the vulpine's reaction.

"I'm sorry Krystal. Seriously you're one of the best pilots I know and I need your help or we're all going to be dead by the end of the week." Fox said alot louder this time. "Alright then I'll help but I don't know how Wolf will handle this.." She told him. "I'll pack my things and meet you on Corneria tommorow at eight." She told him in a my way or the highway manner. "Alright Krystal." Fox said before ending the call. She finally got one of the things she wanted, the apology, now to see how the rest of things went. She hoped she would be allowed a room on the Great Fox while helping them because Wolf probably wouldn't allow her to stay while helping Fox.

_-Author's Note: Hopefully this is a well written chapter considering it's late once more..Enjoy and alert me if there's any mistakes..hopefully no embarrassing mistakes like I always fear will happen before uploading ahah. And considering the review on if Fox and Krystal will get back together...Author's don't tell the audience before it happens but I have foreshadowed alot in this fanfic so you probably know what will happen..Not saying I won't add any twists. Enjoy-_


	54. LIV Welcome Back

LIV. Welcome Back

"You can't tell us you're not interested in getting her back.." Falco asked Fox, who had been interrogated for the past hour since getting Krystal back, he tried to show no interest and keep with his professional duties. "I am it's just getting this done is more important." Fox told him. "No wonder she left you..." Falco sighed. "She didn't leave him Falco..He just kicked her out you know that." Slippy said making the situation sound no better.

"Look I'm not going to go overboard on this, just going to be casual..She might be with Panther by now." He wanted to vomit at the thought of them together. "Nah she's disgusted by him. She wants out and you're her only hope at it." Slippy told him and Fox knew he was right. "Well it doesn't matter because I'll try my hardest to try and get her back but I don't see it happening." Fox told them. "How bad do you want her back anyways? You're acting like it's impossible." Falco continued pestering the vulpine. "More than anything I've ever wanted okay..I just don't know if things will work out the way I want them to." He said in a depressed tone. They had never seen him like this before and needed to find a way to end it.

The next day Krystal tried to sneak out quickly but was quickly stopped. "You're going to help them?!" Panther asked with a disgusted look on his face. "I thought you could get over your issues with Fox.." He continued on not even changing his facial expression. "This isn't about Fox." She lied. "They need my help..You see how terrible of a pilot he is now and besides I could easily trick them." "Mhmm.." He didn't seem to be buying it. "Look I promise I'll be back." She assured him, not wanting Wolf to get into this argument. "What good's a promise to me?" He asked slyly. "Well.." She didn't know what else to do and went to her alternative plan by kissing him on the cheek for a brief moment. "Well alright then..But i'll be waiting and if you don't come back I will come find you and him." He threatened and left her to do her own thing.

She hurried to her modified Arwing, gagging from her episode with Panther, launched and headed towards the locations Slippy had given her. Deep inside she looked forward to seeing her old friends again but she also feared that Fox wouldn't show interest in her this time and try to play it too conservatively. She also worried what Wolf would do when he found out, though she knew deep inside he wouldn't care at all about her.

Shortly after departing from Star Wolf's base Krystal found herself at her new "Home" The third version of the Great Fox. She took a deep breath as her nervousness kicked into full throttle causing her arms to shake slightly. "Just calm down we've done this before.." She told herself trying to maintain her calm. "Great.." She muttered seeing Falco and Slippy coming out to greet her. Taking deep breaths she unlatched the cockpit and climbed out to say hello to her old friends.

"Glad to see you on the right side again." Falco said quickly. Slippy was nicer and just told her "Welcome back." She was surprised Fox wasn't there to welcome her back and very disappointed to say the least. "Fox is inside, he's been acting weird lately so go fix him please." Falco joked bringing a slight glare from Slippy. It didn't need to be said she had definitely affected Fox and his lifestyle.

"Hey Fox." She said trying to sound as friendly as possible, focusing on maintaining her calm and keeping herself from shaking. "Hey Krystal, welcome back." He said sounding alot different than she remembered, she had affected him more than she could've imagined and had to fix it. Fox didn't even twitch he just sat there at the table looking over maps like nothing had happened. She was furious to say the least but could tell he was nervous around her once more. "So where can I sleep?" she asked hoping they had an extra room. "Room next to Fox's you'll tell by the trail of tears." Falco joked receiving another glare. "This isn't the time." Slippy whispered to him. "It's the first one the left." Fox told her looking up this time and showing her a slight smile. "I'll go get settled." She told him and went to the second room on the left to find it barren and untouched.

She sighed looking out the small window into space "Back to square one." She sighed, he wasn't trying to avoid her she knew that but he was just as nervous as the day they met. The more she thought about it the more she seemed to lose herself in a pool of emotions, she just wished one thing would work for her. Something telling her deep inside that if Fox were to take her back she would be happy for the rest of her life. She fell asleep thinking of the future that they may have.

"So that was your hardest?" Falco asked Fox making him blush. "What? I just said hello, I think asking her to go out now would be a little overboard." Fox didn't really know what to do in the situation and hoped Falco may help or maybe even Slippy. "You should've helped her pack her stuff in and just talk casually." Slippy added in giving what little advice he could. "She didn't pack anything but a couple pairs of clothes.." He sighed resting his head on his fist. "Well then that's a sign." Falco told him. "Just do whatever you did the first time but show you've changed a little too." Falco advised him before heading off to watch TV.

"Anglar Forces located near Katina." R.O.B alerted. "Great..C'mon let's go." "Fox go get Krystal we'll meet you in the hangar." Slippy told him. "Alright gimme a minute." Fox said getting up and heading towards Krystal's new room. "That'll give him a second chance." Slippy told Falco while heading for their Arwings.

"Krystal?" Fox asked knocking on the door. The door accidentally opened from his motions, apparently she hadn't bothered to lock it, so he decided to go in and find her. He looked on the bed and saw her sleeping and it brought back memories of their short time spent together, a time that he had ruined for them. He lost track of time and the world around him just gazing upon something so peaceful.

"Heh..You coming?" Falco asked nudging Fox. "You've been in here ten minutes isn't it about time you wake her up?" "Yeah..Sorry." Was all he could manage, he was at a loss for words. "Actually..I think I might just let her sleep.." He said still staring "Too late, I'm up now." She said yawning. Fox could only blush, how long had she been awake? "What's up anyways?" She asked him sounding as calm as possible. "Just a small Anglar force headed to Katina. Come on let's go you two." Falco answered for Fox. Fox's staring earlier visibly making Krystal blush under her fur.

"Took you guys long enough..The city could be in ruins by the time we get there!" Slippy told them as they got into their Arwings. "Everyone ready?" Fox asked as usual. "Ready." "Ready." "Ready." Krystal, Falco and Slippy told him. "Okay then let's go."

Luckily the Great Fox was close to Katina, getting them to the small Anglar attack as quick as possible. "Let's split up Fox." Slippy recommended. "Alright..Slip' take west..I'll take northwest..Falco you take the east and Krystal take northeast." Fox told them, they all followed their directions and headed off blasting every hostile ship in their paths. Krystal was happy to be near Fox for their first mission, she saw that with her on the team Fox seemed to be better than he was during their dogfight a few days ago, which didn't surprise her. Still it haunted her mind that she promised go back to Star Wolf with Panther, instantly putting a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Krystal one on you!" Fox yelled out for the third time before sighing and helping the vixen out. "Huh?" She asked now seeing that she had picked up an enemy while distracted. A second look on radar and she saw Fox had one on him as well. "Fox one on your back too!" She warned him but it was too late, he had just taken a hard hit to the back of his ship when she said that.

"Fox?!" Slippy asked worried from seeing his friend's ship losing 80% shields in only one hit. He didn't answer them he just focused and got the enemy off of Krystal before breaking off leading the ship on his tail off somewhere else. "Thanks Fox." She said but still no reply. "Fox??" She asked again. "Guys I need help I can't shake this one!" Fox finally yelled in distress. She had really never heard him ask for help like this before but was happy to lend a hand. "Hang on I'm coming." She told him seeing his shields dropping steadily from 16%, he was barely hanging on.

"Gotcha." she smiled getting a lock on the hostile ship and then sent a shot it's way. The Arwings lasers easily destroyed the ship in only one hit. "Thanks Krystal." He said panting slightly. It was weird for her to get used to him flying like this, he hardly broke a sweat from pressure against the Aparoid Queen.

"Well this area seems clear now.." Krystal said. "Clear for me too." Slippy added. "Just have one more.." Falco struggled to say. "Okay now I'm done too." "Well what's next?" Fox asked before they were answered by another, much larger ship flying down to meet them. "Great..Everyone come to us." Fox sighed knowing whoever this is thought he was a big shot.

The ship's pilot came down to them laughing almost maniacally at them. "You's took out my men now I'm taking out you's" He said to them, obviously an unintelligent being. Fox knew he was weak now with only 14% left on his shields he decided to stay back, as much as he hated it. "Okay..Fox try to get the bottom of the ship it's weak!" Krystal ordered out. He was amazed with her powers to find weaknesses once again. He fired as fast as he could and was soon reinforced by Falco and Slippy. It wasn't a total of twenty seconds before the large ship went down.

"Well..Not bad at all guys..Let's head back." Fox told them panting slightly. "Agreed." Falco said. Fox was glad this was over, his head was slightly aching from the beating he had taken.

_-Author's Note: I didn't want to end this chapter but my brain is friend and I want it released tonight..HOPEFULLY I haven't left any bad errors and hopefully this will be a good longer chapter from me..NHL Playoffs have started so I have been watching that more than focusing on writing but hopefully I'll get three or more chapters out this upcoming week...but with me going out of town for the weekend I won't promise anything..Anyhow enjoy..More to come soon.-_


	55. LV Trying to Mend

LV. Trying To Mend

"Fox open up!" Krystal yelled loudly for a third time. She had almost put a dent in the door from the constant knocking. "What??" He asked groggily, he had spent most of his night thinking and had just gotten an hour of sleep just like the night before. "Come on Fox we've got a problem." She said loudly once more. "Coming.." He groaned getting up and getting dressed.

"Someone had a rough night.." She said as he walked out, his fur in a mess. "Yeah.." He said showing no emotion at all and sounding very tired. As soon as they came into the main room an alarm went off.

"What's going on?" Fox asked. "Well the Anglar are nearby..But Slippy spilled his drink that's what started the alarm.." Falco told him. Fox only sighed and ordered everyone to their Arwings.

"There's only a couple of them out here.." Fox said watching the radar carefully as it scanned for ships in the area. "Only eleven?" Falco questioned "What a disappointment.." Slippy added. Fox was happy it wasn't alot, he couldn't take another big battle until he rested properly. "They're mostly scattered so just split up and have fun." Fox ordered halfheartedly. "Alright.." Krystal said shocked Fox wasn't even interested in leading today.

Fox didn't even have to lift a finger throughout this battle, soon Falco had cleared eight of the eleven ships, leaving Krystal with two and Slippy with one. "Is that it?! It wasn't worth the time." Falco boasted. "With our luck we'll be ambushed on the way back so stay alert." Krystal took lead for a half-dead Fox McCloud. For the first time in the team's history they weren't ambushed after a short mission and they got back safely.

"Fox wait up!" She called for him but got no response, he could hardly hear from his fatigue. "Fox!!" She yelled again, this time getting a response. "What's up?" He asked hurrying back to her. "I think we need to talk.." She said not knowing what to expect for a response. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?" He asked, already knowing what she wanted to talk to him about. "It's about..Well what we've done wrong in the past month.." He was woken up by that, emotions swirling inside of him and affecting him at the pit of his stomach. "Krystal..I-I-" "I know you're sorry and that you didn't do it to be hurtful." She didn't let him finish, knowing exactly what he'd say.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for all of this..I've done as much wrong as you have. I only joined Star Wolf so I'd get your attention." She told him fighting back tears. "It worked.." He said, forcing a slight chuckle. "Yeah..But I'm in way over my head Fox and I need help badly." She admitted. "I'm here for you, I told you I always would. _No matter what_." He smiled, his words going through her like a knife through butter. He was fighting sleep off as much as he could, part of him already feeling like he was asleep and he was having the best dream he'd had in a long time.

"Fox?" She said to him trying to snap him out of his trance. "Fox?!" She shook him violently. "Huh?" He asked, he had almost fallen asleep. "Uhh..Nothing you seem really tired..Let's talk later." She told him patting his hand. He nodded to her unable to manage an excuse, he wanted to hit himself for blowing the chance he wanted and needed. He couldn't fight anymore he flopped over on his bed and passed out.

"I can't believe he fell asleep while talking to her." Falco told Slippy in a whisper. "She'll understand why..He took a beating in the last battle and her coming back has kept him from sleeping the past two nights." Slippy replied as quiet as he could. "Yeah things will work out eventually..I hope." Falco added in, wanting his leader and friend back to normal. Krystal sighed before slumping over in her seat, why couldn't one thing work out.

"Fox another wave of Anglar are here." Slippy knocked at the door this time. "Coming." He replied back before opening the door. Slippy was shocked that Fox was already awake and had been watching the news. "How many this time?" He asked. "Alot more..They're searching for us." Slippy showed Fox how many were nearby on radar. "Great..They seem to be coming straight from Solar..Wait how?" Fox was dumbstruck that they could be coming from such an uninhabitable area. "They must have setup a temporary base there..When we killed their scouts they got angry apparently." Falco told them. "Well get ready for heavy combat." Fox said dreading what was to come.

Before heading for his Arwing Fox stopped Krystal in the hall. "I'm sorry about last night..I just haven't gotten much sleep lately." Fox explained. "I know..We'll pickup where we left off after this mission okay?" She asked him and he couldn't refuse her. "Alright..Let's see how fast we can take these guys down." Fox smiled to her before racing Krystal to their Arwings.

The battle would be harder than any of them expected, just before they got to Solar is when the battle hit it's peak. All of their shields were below 70% already and they were running low on bombs for the bigger groups. "I can already feel it getting hotter." Slippy complained while fighting off a couple ships. "Yeah but just stick with it we're almost done." Fox grunted while pushing his Arwing's limits to keep his squad safe.

"Fox behind you!" Krystal warned him but was a split second late, he looped behind the Anglar ships like he had eyes in the back of his head. "Nice." She commented before taking out a few Anglar on her own. "Fox!" Slippy called out for help. Fox flew as fast as he could to help out his teammate, he tried as hard as he could to follow the enemy behind Slippy but couldn't maintain a lock on the target. "Fox!!" Slippy yelled out just as Fox got his lock. "Gotcha." He smirked before saving Slippy from yet another enemy.

While Fox was saving Slippy Falco got to work, taking out over half of the incoming ships but the results were hardly visible. "Guys we're going to need to just charge down there they keep coming." Falco alerted Fox. "I know we've killed like a hundred out here but if we just go down there they will follow us and give us trouble." Fox pondered the decisions aloud. No matter what they did they seemed to be in a lost battle. He didn't know which would be best, to stay and hope they run out of reinforcements or to head on down for the planet with hundreds of Anglar on their tails.

"Guy's I think I should take this part on alone." Fox said boldly. His shields were the highest of the four so he was the best choice. "Are you crazy?" Krystal asked, he slightly began to think he was going crazy. "You three can make it up here and I'll be quick." He told them before heading off at full speed. "He's crazy." Falco muttered trying to keep Anglar ships off of Fox. "Yeah." Slippy agreed. They seemed to have forgotten Fox could hear them over radio.

"Fox watch out and don't burn your Arwing up, there's no coming back from there." Krystal warned him, it wasn't the first time he had gone into a place where there were no second chances. "Yeah I know." He sighed now thinking through the worst possible results before erasing them from his mind. "I've already gotten to one of their platforms..it's stocked up with supplies and ships." The Anglar apparently were very smart builders, they had somehow kept these platforms up high enough so that nothing could be harmed.

It only took a few well place shots before they would tip into the lava destroying everything. "I got an idea on how to get this done with, fast." Fox smiled before shooting the platform as much as he could. He was amazed on how effective his plan was, it only took a few hits before all the ships and supplies had fallen off into the lava. "Okay only three to go it seems." Fox alerted them. "How's everything up there?" He asked expecting them to be alright. "We're holding just hurry Fox." Krystal told him. "Our shields are running low." Slippy alerted. They had all taken mass damages in the last few minutes, Fox now the lowest one on the meter thanks to the heat of Solar.

"Fox you need to hurry." Krystal started to worry for him. Fox quickly got the next platform down with a single bomb. "Crud." He yelled aloud as debris flew towards him. He flew as skillful as ever dodging each peice knowing that he was dead if he accidentally flew into one. He took a deep breath knowing he barely got out of that situation alive and knew he couldn't use bombs here.

He fired his lasers at the third platform getting another one down quickly. "Just one left." He told everyone. "Hurry." Krystal watched over his shields seeing them going dangerously low. "Got it." Fox said as he tipped the final platform over. "Good now come help us." Falco barked. "On my way." He smiled heading away from the burning planet.

With the Anglar's reinforcements halted the battle was easier for the team, it only took a few minutes for them to take out the rest of the Anglar forces. "There done with that..Now lets go get some rest before we have a new mission." Fox told his team, they all agreed with him before heading back for the Great Fox.

Fox was excited and nervous about the chat he was going to have with Krystal soon after they returned. He hoped it'd turn out for the best.

_-Author's Note: I wanted to add the end but I'm so tired right now..Getting in a great mood for writing lately though. Hopefully no errors here. Next chapter has the chat between Krystal and Fox and also more combat. Thanks for reading hope you enjoy.-_


	56. LVI Very Tough Times

LVI. Very Tough Times

Krystal was stuck at a crossroad and wasn't sure what to do. She could play things safe right now and break Fox's heart or she could tell him how she truly feels and get her life back to normal. She was scared to do what she wanted because she had promised Panther she'd be back and she rarely broke promises. It made her cringe to think of going back to Star Wolf though, where she could smell Panther a mile away thanks to his cologne baths.

She was about to cry by the time they returned to the Great Fox, she knew something bad would come of this no matter what happened. She wished they had finished their conversation yesterday when she wasn't thinking of the consequences. "Krystal?" Fox asked unlatching her cockpit from the outside. She had lost her self control and now was slumped over, tears forming in her eyes. "Krystal?" He asked in a more worrying tone. "I-I'm sorry..But I just need some time to think." She muttered quietly. He nodded to her and helped her out of her cockpit knowing something was up and it was his fault.

"Ugh, why didn't I just retire. Instead I just lost the love of my life." He muttered to himself pacing back and forth in his room. What he didn't know was that Krystal could hear him on the other side of the wall, making her decision much harder to make. She knew he would be heartbroken and stay that way until she finally came back to him, if he'd even take her back, but if she stayed they'd both be happy until Panther tracked them down with Wolf and Leon too. They had fought with Star Wolf before but they had gotten strategic on their work and now would surely outdo Fox and Krystal alone. She knew she needed to put her feelings, and his, out of her mind and reject Fox here so they would be out of harms way. Plus her being on Star Wolf would help protect him more if she could manipulate Panther. What was becoming of her? She was now considering manipulating someone, had this situation changed her?

"Fox.." Krystal came through the unlocked door, expecting it to have been locked. "I-I think I'm ready for that talk." She muttered, her voice breaking as she tried to keep the tears in. He sat there speechless noticing her voice and her fake smile, she couldn't fool him anymore something was up. She sat beside of him on his bed rehearsing what she was going to tell him. "Fox..I-I-I.." She couldn't say it. "It's alright Krystal you can tell me anything." He said calmly as ever. She wanted to tell him the truth, to return to his arms once more, so badly but she feared what would happen. "Fox I-I just can't stay with you here.." She told him at ninety miles an hour. "What? Why?" He asked not able to maintain his own vocal composure.

"I just can't..I'm sorry." She couldn't help but to start crying and she could sense he was about to start crying with her, something she didn't expect to see him do. "Krystal, I love you with all my heart you can tell. Use your telepathy if you don't believe that I'd do anything for you. I won't do anything stupid like that again." He said getting furious and depressed at the same time. "I know you do it's just I promised Panther I'd come back to him.." She told him, after she had said it she noticed how that sounded. He sat there silently, unable to come up with anything to say. He felt like his brain had shutoff in an instant. "Krystal.." Was all he could manage. "Good night Fox..I'm sorry I just can't stay here with you." She walked out of the room leaving him there dumbfounded. He expected to get her back tonight and didn't know what he did to deserve this pain in his gut. "Krystal wait!" He yelled out but got no response, he listened closely at the wall and could hear her crying uncontrollably in the room right next to him. Forcing himself from comforting her he rolled over on the bed hoping to have a good night's sleep for the battles ahead.

Krystal finally got to sleep and dreamt once again of Fox, this time they were on Sauria back at Cape Claw when they first met. This wasn't a dream it was a memory. "Krystal..I'm so glad I met you." He told her just slightly louder than the surf crashing upon the beach. "You're the only one who could've..I'm glad you decided to take me into Star Fox." She smiled at him, for all she cared right now he was the only person in the galaxy other than herself. "It was all strange luck.." He sighed. "Life's full of risks sometimes you need to take them." He said to her, that part she really didn't remember but maybe that was the point of this dream maybe she needed to take a risk here to make them happy. Just like that she woke up in a mess from crying so much the night before. "Ugh..What should I do?" She asked herself still laying down and thinking about the dream that had just passed by her. She knew now she was going to tell the truth no matter what the risks were.

"I can't believe it..She's with Panther!" Fox said angrily, ranting to ease his tension. "Panther?! Seriously?" Falco asked more shocked now than he had been in his life. "She told me that she still loved you Fox.." Slippy said to him, she had told him not to tell him though. "So she's in love with me and tells me she's more interested in Panther?" Fox continued his furious rant. "And then she came here asking me for help because she's in over her head..Why can't Panther help?" Fox said just loud enough that the vixen could hear him from the hall. Falco and Slippy saw her coming and could only gasp preparing for the fireworks to unfold. "It's complicated Fox." She yelled at him heartbroken enough from the past night's events. "Complicated juggling two guys around?" He asked her, his words harming her more than a dagger could. "Fox.." She said unable to say anything other than that before just turning the other way and heading back for her room waiting for the next mission to popup.

"Way to go Fox." Falco sarcastically said to the vulpine. He had no idea who Krystal actually loved. "She doesn't love Panther..She was absolutely repulsed by him." Slippy muttered looking up information on his laptop. "We need to go to Titania. Apparently Andross has a weapon hidden there." "Greaat." Fox groaned remembering the visit when Slippy crash landed there and he had to go get him in the Landmaster. "Should we get going?" Falco asked. "Yeah...But let's wait for Krystal to get..better." Fox sighed rubbing his eyes. "You still care?" Slippy asked sarcastically, he knew the answer. "Of course I do..I won't love anyone else the same." He said remembering the 'Good days' of their relationship.

Krystal sniffled looking at the picture of Fox and her she had in her pocket. She was going to tell him but he forced her away and hurt her even worse than she already was. "Krystal.." He said knocking at the door. "Unless it's a mission just leave me alone." She told him coldly. "Well it's a mission but I do want to talk to you just for a second." He said knowing she wouldn't give him a chance with his luck. "Fine." She complied. "What is it?" She asked him after opening the door. "I'm sorry about what I said I didn't mean to. I'm just going through a hard time and this didn't help" She knew he had a reason to be upset. "Fox I'm not d-" "Come on you two while there's no Anglar!" Falco yelled. "Sorry what was that?" Fox asked her. "I'll tell you after we're done..You'll be happy to hear it though." She smirked at him before getting up, his presence drying her tears almost instantly. "What if I don't want to wait?" He joked at her. "Well that'll make it better." She responded before heading for her ship.

_-Author's note: First off I am very very impressed with this chapter..It's gotta be one of my best although it does go back and forth with emotions..I just don't seem to be that much of a depressing writer. Second off I know I promised Action in my last chapter but I wanted this one to be seperate for certain reasons like: I seem to lose focus as I write more and more for a chapter (Thus why there's so many in this fanfic.) Second off I'm running out of time for the night but I wanted to keep this streak alive..I hate to ask but I'd love to hear your reviews on this chapter just to see if you guy's like this chapter as much as I did..I'm not one to brag but this has gotta be one of my bests :p...Also sadly I will be out of town for two nights..Wednesday and Thursday most likely to go check out new houses which I may be moving to so this streak will have to end sometime this week sadly..hope you have enjoyed these past few chapters and this fanfic..thanks everyone for reading.-_


	57. LVII Krystal's Decision

LVII. Krystal's Decision

"Fox one behind." Slippy warned him, The Anglar had sent stealthed fighters to guard whatever weapon Andross had hid there. "Can't see him!" Fox yelled before hearing a loud blast from behind. "Got him off ya." Krystal smirked. "What is this weapon for anyways?" Fox asked, not even the leader of the team knew. It neutralizes the acid in the Venom sea so we can end this." Slippy answered quickly while fighting off a couple of ships himself. "I don't think the Bluemarine is ready for battle though." Fox added remembering the mass damage it had taken in it's first and only mission to date. "I knew you'd think of that but I'll explain to you later." Slippy strained to say. He obviously was not having much luck with the fighting.

Fox flew around looking for more enemies, he had to look hard to even catch a glimpse of any of these stealth ships. "Aha." He smiled seeing the very edge of one sticking out but before he could even react six others popped out of thin air. "Uh oh.." He said quite loudly thinking of only two plans; flying away luring them to where he could possibly get a one-on-three situation or fighting them here trying to deflect their fire. "Fox are you crazy?" Falco asked seeing Fox flying away from six of the ships, the whole team had their hands full. "Possibly." He joked, focusing on getting away.

Fox barrel-rolled his way out of their range before turning back around, opening fire on them. "Now it's their turn to run." He said to himself firing as fast as ships were now fleeing faster than he was moments ago. Fox's luck had changed now and he was on the offensive. "Fox behind you again." Krystal warned him. "How many are there in this god forsaken place?" Fox yelled in frustration. "Not many more. We're close to our target." Slippy told him. "If you guys can peel these off me I could get down there and check it out." Fox told them trying to conjure up the best plan possible to get home safely and finally end the Anglar. "Can't I've got enough." Falco told him.

"Great.." Fox said sarcastically barrel-rolling his way through the fire. "I got the ones in front of you." Krystal said giving her leader support. "Thanks." He strained to pull up as hard as possible to get the ones behind him. "Goodbye." He told himself cockily before taking down the two that were behind him. "I'm going to go check out this new 'weapon'." Fox alerted everyone before landing his Arwing to find out what was at the objective on the radar.

"There's nothing here.." He said slightly dissapointed. Before he could head back for his Arwing the ground started to shake while something emerged from the sand in front of him. "Ah!" He fell back in shock, out of all his years in this business he thought he'd be used to this. "Switch targets take out the big thing." Falco ordered for Fox. "Does it have Fox?" Krystal asked seeing something small stuck to the large creature. "Yeah." He yelled out in distress. "I'm in a bad situation so please DO NOT miss." The vulpine had been in these types of situations many times before.

"I should miss for all the times you missed and hit me." Falco joked trying to ease the stress of the situation. Fox smirked slightly still struggling to get his backup knife or maybe his smaller blaster. He fought and fought against this weird creature until he finally got his knife strapped onto his ankle, pulling it out he quickly shoved it inside the worm-like creature making it shriek in pain before dropping him onto the sand atleast fifty feet under him. All the poor vulpine could do was protect his head and hope the sand would be a soft landing zone. "Wow that was pretty stupid of him.." Falco couldn't help but laugh at his friend's situation. "Fox?" Krystal asked but had no response. "Oh no." Slippy sighed. "Will he be okay?" Krystal asked in a worryful tone. "Yeah he should be fine." Falco told them. "Let's just finish this then we can help him up." Falco ordered them, taking his role as secondary leader. "It's almost dead don't worry Krystal." Slippy assured her.

Fox looked up seeing the worm-like creature falling to the ground and sighed in relief. He checked everything, his body for any injuries and all of his equipment, nothing was hurt except his PDA had broken at some point in his struggle. It had to be atleast a hundred and twenty out in this desert if not more. He barely could open his eyes as sand blew everywhere.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Krystal's Arwing landing close by. He couldn't help but smile after the mornings mishaps to see she still cared. "Fox?" She asked him kneeling at his side checking him for any injuries as well. "I'm fine..Just sand in some..Uncomfortable places.." He said trying to get up. She helped him up and kissed him on the cheek, something she had wanted to do for a while now and it him blush just like the first time she did it. "What was that for?" He asked playfully. "You'll know when we get back to the ship." She answered making him confused as ever. "What about the weapon?" He asked, snapping back to his senses. "Slippy and Falco are on that..I was supposed to get you back up." She answered his question again.

"I hope it's not inside..That thing." He said dreadfully knowing it was. "They found a cave nearby and are checking it out." She smiled at him taking a seat on the wing of her ship. "I hate this planet so much." He told her trying to spark conversation. "It's just so barren and hot." He continued after no response. "Fox.. Do you still love me?" She asked him ignoring his failed attempts at starting a conversation. "Umm." His face seemed to glow blood red now, she had put him on the spot when he least expected it. "I told you once that I'd never love anyone but you and I meant that. No matter what you do I'll love you." He said instantly getting a case of dry mouth, maybe it was caused by the sand. She knew he still loved him she just wanted to hear it whenever she could.

"What about you? I mean I know you told Slippy but.." He asked putting the spotlight on her now. "I never stopped loving you and never will." She answered starting to blush herself even though she knew she had no reason to be nervous. "What's the deal about Panther then?" He couldn't help but ask. "I'm not in love with him..I'm actually repelled by him." She told him making him smile. "But why? I thought girls liked that kind of stuff." He asked her taking a seat next to her on the wing.

"Well I like it when you do it but when he does it I can read his thoughts and know I'd just be another woman for him..The only reason he wants me so badly is because he can't have me." She started to choke up slightly. "You want me because you actually love me..Actually from your thoughts you absolutely adore me." She told him sweetly. "So will you give me another chance? I swear I won't do anything stupid again..Well stupid like that." He smiled dorkishly. "I wouldn't be happier but I'm in a bit of trouble Fox." She said dreadfully, she feared his response for what was to come. "I'll help you with anything." He laughed silently from being so happy at this moment. "I promised Panther I'd return to Star Wolf." Her smile evaporated and only made her fear his response. "Who runs your life him or you?" He asked her making a point but still Fox didn't know all the details.

"Panther told me he'd find us though if I stayed..And I told him I'd only stay until the end of the Anglar battles." "Well let him find us. I'll protect you with my life." He knew that Panther wouldn't find them if they retired and found a place to settle down at on Sauria. "I'm just so scared I'm going to get you hurt though." "Krystal.. I don't know what to say but I don't think Panther will really do that." She didn't respond to him this time. "Krystal..It's fine I'm here." He said sensing something was bothering tucked her head in and put it on his chest seeking comfort, something she had wanted ever since she had been forced to leave Star Fox. Fox smiled slightly, even though his love was crying it was somewhat tears of joy. Finally the couple was somewhat back together.

"How long until we tell them we're done?" Falco asked already in his Arwing. "I don't know but this should help Fox more than anything." Slippy replied loading the new weapon into the bottom attachment of his Arwing. "I'm glad they're back to normal though. It's terrible seeing him just depressed." Falco commented. "Fox you okay?" Slippy said over radio not wanting to seem like he was totally interrupting their moment. "Yeah. i'm going to be just fine." He smiled remembering that was exactly what he said when Krystal first joined Star Fox. "We should finish this on the Great Fox." He told her wiping a tear from her face. "Y-yeah..I'll see you there." She sniffled before getting into her ship. "I love you Krystal." He told her before closing her cockpit up for flight and heading for his own Arwing. _"I love you too." _He heard in his mind but he wasn't sure if he was imagining things or if she had used her telepathy to tell him, it had been too long.

The flight back was quiet, Krystal focusing her eyes on Fox and Fox's on her. Almost like they were looking over each other but not themselves. By the time they reached their home Falco and Slippy had tons of questions to ask Fox but none of them were brave enough to ask right away. "So Fox is she interested in you or Panther?" Falco finally spilled out when Krystal was getting into more comfortable clothes. "No she was never interested in him. You guys were right." He admitted and he was glad he was proven wrong. "So you two are back at it?" He asked already knowing the answer. "Yeah I think so.. I couldn't be happier." He admitted to them. "Glad to see you back to normal then." Slippy joined in. "We'll see..She says if she stays Panther's going to stalk us." "Yeah..Star Wolf would want revenge if you took their newest pilot..They'll think Krystal used them." Slippy said. "Well honestly she kinda did.." Fox nervously told them. "Fox?" Krystal called from down the hall. "I gotta go." Fox told them hastily. "Go get 'em." Falco laughed, glad to see his friend happy. "Everyone's got a girl now but you Falco..When are you going to get back with Katt?" Slippy pestered him, obviously ruffling the avian's feathers.. Literally. "Let's just go fix up everything for Venom." Falco changed the subject to one Slippy would agree on.

"So what do you want to do now?" Fox asked Krystal. "I don't feel like doing much honestly." "TV?" Fox asked blankly. "Sure." She smiled. "You've been looking at this haven't you?" Krystal asked grabbing the replica of her staff she had given him what seemed to be ages ago. "Yeah..You're still wearing that necklace." He pointed to the gift he had given her long ago. "It reminded me of you when I slept at that junkheap Star Wolf calls a base." He chuckled nervously knowing it was his fault for that. She sensed his nervousness around her again, he was treating her like a delicate jewel and he was scared to make a wrong move. "I'm not going to be mad if you hold me you know.." She muttered trying to ease him. "Sorry." He whispered putting his arm around her carefully. "I'm so happy that you're back Krystal." He whispered in her ear. "I am too, this is my home." Actually wherever Fox was would be her home no matter what and she knew it. Nobody would be a better match for her. It wasn't an hour before the two fell asleep as close as two connected puzzle pieces losing touch with the reality that they had a bigger fight than they expected ahead of them.

_-Author's Note: Last battle of Command is up next..I didn't really follow up on the REAL game here because well with so many missions which to do and which not to..I know last chapter seemed like a "Filler" But I didn't want to rush Krystal and Fox getting back together..Hopefully this one is long enough for you guys since 2000 words is my hopeful chapter rate for most of the remainder of this story..Almost done and now I'm not looking forward to that I've loved writing recently and I hope I'll be this way after I come back in a couple days. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for all the feedback on the last chapter. It helps me write what you guys want to while also focusing on what I like to write. Thanks to everyone once more.-_


	58. LVIII Lord of The Anglar

LVIII. Lord of The Anglar

Opening his eyes Fox saw possibly the greatest sight he had seen in his life, Krystal next to him after all he did to push her away. His paw was over hers, holding it just like nothing ever happened between the two. "You're so beautiful.." He muttered gently brushing the side of her ear. "Five more minutes.." She moaned at him, she hadn't slept this good in a while. He didn't expect her to wake so easily but now it'd be hard for him to keep his paws off of her. "Fox!" Slippy called in knocking on the door, Fox could only sigh knowing Krystal definitely was awake now. "I'll get it, just go back to sleep." He told her with a smile, she only nodded before sloppily getting comfortable. "Please don't tell me it's time for our mission.." He muttered seeing he had slept in and it was almost noon. "What's up?" Fox asked Slippy as soon as the door opened, he hadn't noticed his fur was in a mess as it usually is after he sleeps. "You two have the day off so go do whatever you want..I need to fix the Arwings for Venom." Slippy told him short and sweet. "Alright, thanks. If you need help just ask." The vulpine muttered sleepily before heading back to the bed like a lazy couch potato.

"Day off?" Krystal asked him. "Yeah..So I'll do whatever you want me to so I can make up for ruining our lives for the past month." He grinned sheepishly knowing what all she could put him up to do. "No, not that." Krystal smiled at him, she was still half asleep but was reading his mind as usual. "Sauria?" He asked hoping she'd agree to the place that he hoped to call his future home. "Sure, but not now..I still want my five minutes." She grinned at him pulling him by his tail onto the bed playfully.

"I love you fox.." She sighed to him looking deep into his eyes, she felt like she couldn't say it enough. "I love you t-" Fox was interrupted by an annoying beep coming from Krystal's wrist. "Figures.." The vixen sighed. "I'll be right back." She told him signalling for him to stay still while she answered the call.

It wasn't five minutes before Krystal came back into the room, her smile replaced by a frustrated look like no other. "Panther?" Fox asked. "Yeah..Apparently there's Anglar on Fichina.." Fox started to get up on the spot. "They're taking care of it so sit back down." She pulled him back. "So I've been thinking and well.." Fox trailed off. "What is it?" She asked, expecting the worst from how he sounded. "Our Arwings won't be fixed in time to fly to Sauria for a couple hours." She sighed, she expected something really serious to be in store. "I'll fight you then." She smirked knowing he'd hesitate on that offer. "Well the simulation room is much smaller in this ship." Fox told her. "Good more action then." She smiled at him. He didn't know if they should already be fighting but he couldn't turn her offer down, he could use the help.

"Go easy it's been a while." Krystal told him even though she knew he would. "I haven't fought much either." He replied. They didn't even change the terrain, they just rushed into action. Krystal struck first with a couple of shots which Fox barely dodged by rolling. "Someone's rusty.." Krystal kidded with him before having to dodge a couple of shots on her own. "I've got a secret weapon though." She smirked before pulling out her staff. Fox sighed, he didn't want to get burnt or frozen today and hadn't expected this. "Krystal.." He tried to reason but it did no good. Krystal somehow summoned a projectile to fire at him, something the vulpine had never seen before in his life from magic only. He was in shock and couldn't move from the hit incoming all he could do was brace himself for the impact.

Fox saw that he was hit but nothing happened, he was slightly dissapointed until his body collapsed. She smirked and walked up to him. "You win.." He muttered still unable to get up. "How did you learn this and how long will I be paralysed?" Fox asked the vixen who now had kneeled beside him. "Just a minute or two..And you learn things like this when you're bored for weeks at a time." She smirked at him once more. "Please don't _ever _do that again." He hated feeling completely helpless like he did now. "I won't I just wanted to show you." She giggled in the usual way making him roll his eyes. "You could've used Falco or something." Fox joked finally able to move his legs. "It was first used on Panther if that helps you." Fox couldn't help but laugh when he pictured that situation.

The two were down there for hours, training their skills on foot and in their ships as well, they trained until Falco called them both up to see their new upgraded Arwings. "You won't be able to see the difference until tommorow but here's a look." Slippy guided them to the hangar. Seeing the Arwings showed them that there were no visible changes, other than slimmer wings and an extra set of thrusters. "This works right?" Fox asked. "Yeah, I used it to get through Aquas." Fox was impressed once again by Slippy's technological genius. "Guys get a good night's sleep, tommorow we'll go early so they can't establish a defense." Fox already had his plan. Go in when it was still dark and leave before the sun came up, he knew it was easier said than done. "So we have nine hours or so?" Falco asked obvious flustered. "Yeah but only for one night and then we're done." Fox assured him, knowing Falco probably was ready to leave. "Get some sleep and we'll get started around five."

The four headed to their separate rooms preparing for the next day. Fox was about to get in bed before there was a knock on the door. He had expected Krystal to be asking to come in some time. "Fox could we just go back to the way things were?" She asked him, knowing his answer. "Come on, we'll fix everything up tommorow." The couple acted as if nothing happened while also remembering the lessons they learned; they needed each other and needed to talk out their problems instead of just acting on major decisions.

Early morning came quickly for the two which meant the chaotic act of getting ready for everyone. The Great Fox barely kept enough hot water for everyone to get their jobs done and get ready for combat. Fox called everyone in and went over all of their orders, this was do or die and they had no time to waste. "Krystal I want you with me.." Falco rolled his eyes, expecting this setup. "And that leaves Falco and Slippy together. Falco you guys will take east and we'll take west." Fox normally didn't split up groups this much but for this mission it was crucial that both parties equalled out in performance."Let's get this going guys." Fox said slightly nervously, not knowing what this mission would hold for them.

"Hope this works.." Krystal said over to Fox on a separate channel. "It'll work.. I just hope I picked the groups right." Fox replied still slightly nervous, his blood started pumping and adrenaline kicking in. He knew this mission would be huge but he never let fear of death or failure slip into his mind while fighting. "Agh!" Falco yelled out as soon as they launched. "Not now, not now." Falco repeated aloud. "I've got engine troubles I don't know how long I can go." Now Fox was more than worried, his best pilot was already out due to mechanical issues. "This shouldn't be happening..I-I checked the engines." Slippy stuttered. "Okay Krystal you're with Slippy until Falco can get back in this I'll go alone." Fox had to be insane to take so many Anglar alone and he knew there would be plenty. "Good luck. Don't push yourself too hard." Krystal told him over their private line before joining Slippy's, she'd still be in the public channel if he needed her.

"Guys I can't fly this thing I'm heading back to see if something's jammed." Falco said quite angrily. "It's okay Falco we can still do this." Slippy told him. Fox used their new secret weapon to make the Venom Sea habitable again so they could go on with their mission. In a blink of an eye the Arwings were now underwater for the first time in their history but the handling wasn't anything like Fox had expected, it wasn't as loose as he liked. "How in the world have they gotten away with making all of this?!" Slippy asked in amazement. Fox barely had time to think about how advanced their base was, he had to solo the whole western side.

Fox saw a swarm of Anglar flying (or swimming) away from him to alert the base of the attack, Fox decided now was the time for the combat to really begin. He knew a bomb would definitely alert the Anglar of his presence so he was forced to do it the original way with blasters. "Slippy don't get too far ahead, go slowly." Krystal said over the public line, Fox barely recognized her voice he was so focused on the surrounding areas so he wouldn't be ambushed. "Slippy no!" Krystal yelled out this time, Fox tried to look down to see Slip's shields but couldn't manage to from the Anglar attacking him. "Fox we lost Slippy!" Krystal cried out now knowing that their mission had been a failure. "Is he okay?" Fox asked. "Yeah his ship's just disabled." "Gah..Krystal we're going to have to fall back." Fox said between shots. "I'm afraid you're right..But now how will we ever get this war over with?" Krystal asked him. "I don't know, we might need Star Wolf's help." Fox sighed not knowing what he just said. "Fox they'll kill me when I don't go back with them." The reality struck that they wouldn't have anyone to help unless Slippy rigged up the whole Cornerian fleet's ships for underwater combat.

"Fox are you alright?" Krystal asked. Fox had been silent and his shields dropped steadily. "Y-Yeah just...Just alot of fighters." He struggled to say, for once the communications had static. "Let's just get out of here." She told him but he refused to go. "Krystal we might still be able to do this." He had to look at the bright side and not give up here. "Should we meet up? We won't be able to make it on our own." She suggested and was only answered by silence. A look at the radar showed Fox surrounded by more than twenty Anglar. "Fox hang on I'm coming." She said hoping he'd listen to that. "Hurry there's more coming each second." He said in distress. "Fox fly out as fast as you can." She told him, he knew her intentions and hightailed out of there. She sent in a bomb in the middle of the Anglar group which now had numbers atleast up to a hundred.

Debris was everywhere after the blast that blinded his eyes, luckily he got out just in time with a few Anglar still behind him. He flipped his Arwing as fast as he could in the water to get behind them and blast them down as quickly as possible. "Thank you Krystal." He said with a sigh of relief. "There can't be much more..Nevermind." Krystal said looking down to see even more in their way to the main target. "Yeah there's alot but we can do this." He assured her knowing together they made a great team but he also knew this was too much for even the whole team. He pushed the doubt out of his mind and kept going.

"Fox behind me, help!" She called out, unable to get behind the two following her by flips. "On it." He said quickly braking as hard as he could and flying slightly below so she would fly above him. "You're good." He smirked as his multi-lock got both of the fighters. "Thanks..I think we should take out the buildings the fighters seem to be coming from." She told him, slightly seeming to take on his role as the leader but luckily Fox didn't mind. "Take the left I'll take the right." He told her firing lasers faster than ever at the base and the Anglar fleeing from it for their lives. "Fox!" She cried out, ships had flanked her from behind while they focused on the base. "Oh come on!" The vulpine yelled in frustration. "I'll get him just focus on both of them." He told Krystal before somersaulting behind them both.

Finally this area was cleared off, the radar showed that there were no more Anglar for a mile or so "Already taken down two hundred.." Fox sighed looking at the counter. "Falco are you going to be able to come back?" Fox asked hoping Falco could hear him. "I'm still trying to fix this." Falco yelled, his voice was muffled so he obviously wasn't in his cockpit listening in on their misfortunate mission in progress. "This is going to take all day.." Fox sighed looking at six bases on the radar. The sun was just now coming up and the mission seemed more and more impossible with each fight. Their shields kept getting lower and lower as they kept going by the fourth base Fox was already down to 46% and Krystal was at 38.

"Fox.. I haven't been so thirsty in a long time." She told him, they had been in their cockpits for five hours now and the fact that they were _in _water was taunting her. "We're only halfway done so if you need to head back for a water bottle but hurry." Fox told her but she refused to leave him. "Falco have you picked Slippy up?" Fox asked after taking down a couple more ships. "Krystal take out the ships I'll get this base." He ordered while waiting for Falco's answer. "Yeah I got him with a transport ship, he had been floating for an hour though." Falco couldn't help but chuckle at the toad's misfortune. "Alright..Just two more and then we'll have the leader of this army." Fox said trying to keep morale up even though it was sinking with each percentage lost of their shields. "Fox I don't think this is possible, we've lost too much power to finish this." Krystal said worryingly. "Krystal we'll be fine just keep it up you're doing wonderful." He told her looking at her hit count of seven hundred already. He was only at five hundred.

"There's just so many Anglar here it's crazy." She told him taking them out one by one while Fox focus fired the base. "Shoot to the left and it'll blow." She told him seeing a weakpoint in the building where the power was coming from. Just one more shot was all it took to destroy the fifth base. "One more." He told himself hoping to get this mission and war over with today. "Fox..My engine's cutting out." Krystal warned him. "Not now.." He muttered but the second he said it he wished he hadn't. "I'm sorry..It should be fine though." She told him praying her Arwing would make it through just one more mission. "We should've waited an extra day so Slippy could get us backups.." Fox said knowing now it was too late for that.

"Fox help!" She had been trailing behind and he didn't notice, sadly the Anglar did and swarmed in. "Oh no.." He sighed to himself not even able to see Krystal's ship. He couldn't do like she did earlier and throw in a bomb because her ship was getting slower by the minute. He blasted carefully trying not to hurt her ship worse, something for once he did successfully taking out the ships behind her so she could take out the front. Fox finished up by helping her with the enemies to her sides as well spoiling another Anglar swarm. "Why do they swarm us so much?" She asked him hoping he'd know why they used such a tactic like the Aparoids did. "Their ships are weak they need all the support they can get." He answered making her smile and giggle slightly from his knowledge on the enemy, even though Slippy had alot to do with it.

"Last one and we just took out most of the fighters." Fox told her, tension was easing up as the mission seemed to be easier but they hadn't even been through half of it yet. Fox easily took out the final base the Anglar had set up, if they couldn't get the emperor down now atleast he would have no fighters left. "Fox are you ready?" Krystal asked him looking down at the final area, a giant tunnel dug in the ground reminding him of what he had to take to get to Andross when he finally avenged his father. Memories suddenly flashing to him of when he fought Andross here and also of the dream he had the night he rescued Krystal, there was no way he could've expected this all to happen to him back then. "Y-Yeah." He told her snapping back to the real world, suddenly tons of emotions flowing through him from the memories.

She could sense him, the combination of him thinking of her when they met and his own father was distracting him more and more. "Fox stay focused." She told him for once, normally he told her. "Alright..Let's head down and see what's in store for us." He told her flying in first but staying slow so she could keep up. "Stop I think this is it.." She said seeing that they were enclosed in a box, a box with holes in it that seemed to go on forever. "What the?!" Fox asked seeing a giant worm like there was on Titania coming out of one hole and heading towards another. A closer look showed this wasn't like the one on Titania at all and actually was made of metal. "Fox we need to take this out in a hurry, focus your multi-lock on it." She told him sensing the whole thing was weak from it's stay in the water.

They both fired at the same time and kept locking onto it as it snaked it's way from top to bottom of the area, burrowing it's way into each tunnel and popping out on a different side. "It's already almost down just one more." Fox said firing the last shot. "Is that it?" Krystal asked hoping it was but they knew it was never over this easily. A metal gate opened leading it's way to hopefully the emperor of the Anglar, Fox was happy that this was almost over.

"So you're the two fools who have destroyed my army." The spiked fish told them now coming towards them out of the shadows, they couldn't believe it this emperor was just coming at them without a ship or anything. "He's got a shield, look at those orbs around him." Krystal told Fox while scanning the enemy with her natural gift. "I will scatter pieces of you throughout the galaxy for what you've done." The emperor said menacingly but it didn't scare Fox nor Krystal at all. "Let's get this over with." Fox said firing at the orbs around the fish. "Agh!" He yelled out seeing that the two were in fact smarter than he had hoped. With enough shots the orbs went from a green glow to a reddish glow. "His shields are down now attack him!" Krystal ordered him while flying in close.

"Wait a second.." Fox told her. He knew the emperor was charging up some sort of energy to fire at them. "Krystal!" Fox yelled out hoping she'd back down but it was too late for her to get out of the way. The vulpine took things into his own hands and flew in front of the vixen's ship to take the blow. "Fox!" Krystal yelled out seeing her mistake and now seeing his Arwing destroyed from the blast. The emperor laughed at his fortunate shot. Krystal was too busy trying to find Fox's brainwaves, she was relieved that he was still alive and was watching her as the battle continued. "Kr-- M-- Powers l-w" Fox told her through the static, his ship slowly floating to the surface. She sighed knowing what he meant and she knew it was up to her whether or not the Anglar would survive. "Why me?" She asked, keeping to the strategy.

It felt like hours before she got the orbs to go red again, once again she fired as much as she could at him before he unleashed another beam. This time she stayed just far enough and managed to roll to deflect the blast right back to him. He paralysed instantly giving her the perfect opportunity to get him down. If Fox were there he would be dead by now but now she had to endure this a bit more, just when it seemed it was getting too easy the emperor backed up and bars came floating in to hit her ship. She groaned in frustration when she flew into one losing one of her wings making her Arwing lose it's handling.

"Krystal you've got this." Falco told her looking in on the battle silently. "Yeah You can handle him." Slippy helped support her as well. Finally the metal bars stopped coming and she could fire on the emperor once more. He was so close to dying when he surprised her again by mixing up the pace. The emperor sucked in all the water pulling in her ship too. "Krystal use the brakes like I taught you to." Fox told her, obviously Slippy had just picked him up. She remembered her training days and nodded to herself, slowly easing the brakes so she could keep from burning them out. "Now!" Falco said seeing the Anglar emperor was almost dead. It only took two more shots and the emperor fell backwards before saying it's final words in their native tongue.

"Way to go Krystal." Slippy said along with Falco and Fox. "I-I can't believe it..It's over." She said unable to process in her mind what just happened. "Hurry back Krystal, I don't know how much longer your ship can hold." Fox advised her, she knew it too and hurried to surface and to head back to the only home she knew.

Flying back into the hangar with her beaten Arwing she was greeted by everyone, Fox picking her up out of her cockpit and embracing her as tight as ever. "You're a wonderful pilot and the light of my life Krystal." He whispered in her ear before kissing her as passionate as he ever had. She would hug him too if she wasn't so exhausted from the long day, she felt like she couldn't move even if she had wanted to. Falco and Slippy waited for the two to be done before they congratulated her on a simply brilliant flight. "Krystal I think you've made team history with that mission." Slippy said checking the database for how many ships destroyed in one battle. Now one major question was to be asked between the team; What would happen to the team now?

_-Author's Note: Well long chapter first of all hopefully I didn't have too many mistakes from writing this on so many different sittings and also this fic is almost over with.. I know people are ready for this to end and see how it plays out but for the ending I want there needs to be just a few more chapters.. If I had to estimate I'd have to say I'm atleast 93% done so yeah.... If you like this story be sure to favorite me because I'll have alot more fics to come after this that are similar but shorter. In other news I already have the last chapter typed out and ready for whenever I get there hope you enjoyed this chapter because I know you guys like lengthy ones.-_

_-Oh and P.S. I forgot to add this but whoever the anonymous reviewer was I don't think it's weird at all..When I started this fanfic I was actually afraid of using my gamertag because my friends would probably find it so I was indeed quite nervous when I started.. I got to the point where I even showed them a link to this and they even enjoyed it somehow..anyhow Thanks for the reviews everyone the support is amazing!-_


	59. LIX Proving Things Have Changed

LIX. Proving Things Have Changed.

"Krystal I can't believe that you just did that." Falco was shocked to say the least on the matter that Krystal possibly had just had the best combat numbers in Lylat's history. "So Fox what made you think she needed to be kicked off the team?" Falco continued to ask making the vulpine stammer. "I didn't kick her out because of her skills. I let her go because of mine, I thought I couldn't do my job to protect her." He said solely from the heart. "I'm just so glad to be back." She said hoarsely getting up for yet another glass of water. "I am too." Fox said to her looking once more at her beautifully shaped body. "But there's one big problem, what's going to happen to Star Fox now?" Fox asked the team, it was the main reason he had called everyone to the table for discussion. "Fox I've got to get married but I'm sure Amanda would like to join us to help out if you want to keep this up." Slippy answered. "Star Falco was a complete bust, Katt had to leave for other things so I just gave up on it. This is my home now if you and Krystal aren't retiring." They were only in their late twenties and already talking about retirement, most people would find that a laughing matter but after all the wounds both physically and emotionally it was a nice thought. "Fox I don't think we need to stop just yet, this place needs us." Krystal said in a raspy voice chugging down more water. "I think you're right." Fox agreed thinking over how life would go from here on out.

"I think someone didn't fill their water bottle though." The vulpine kidded bringing a sly smile from the vixen. "I forgot about it." She answered before sitting back down. A look at the clock showed midnight, they had been up for almost 24 hours now. "I think we should get some sleep though, I'll tell Peppy of the news." Fox said before standing up to adjust the call monitor. "He'll be so proud." Slippy said knowing that the hare treated the whole team like his own children. Slippy and Falco left the room, dragging their feet from being so sleepy and they weren't even in combat for that long!

"Hey Peppy." Fox said to the screen getting Krystal's attention as well. "I suppose you two are back together?" Peppy asked knowing deep inside that they'd end up together before the end of all of this. "Yes but also we've already taken out the Anglar leader." Fox stood upright almost like he was in front of the hare. "Wow this quick? Wonderful job Fox I'll figure out a payment for you guys and you all can be on your way." Peppy said cheerfully. "Well Krystal was the one who did it so all the credit goes to her." Fox looked behind with a smile only to see a questionable look on her face. "I'll have the papers know and I'll send out that check tommorow." Peppy said before saying his goodbye's, Fox had obviously woken him up. "Fox I couldn't have done that if you hadn't risked yourself for me." She told him as soon as the screen went blank. "You deserve alot of credit, I think you've already seen how terrible of a pilot I am without you." He smirked remembering the dogfight they had when she was with Star Wolf. "you're a better pilot than all of us Fox and an even better leader." She told him like she had said before, Fox knew it wasn't true. Falco was the best pilot on the team. "Well thanks." Is all he could say, the long day causing his mind to feel as if it were deteriorating. He acted on instinct by picking Krystal up and carrying her to his room, handling her as if she were royalty. "Fox I need to get into something more comfortable hold on." She told him before slipping into the bathroom to change. Fox smiled wider and wider each second knowing everything was back to normal but the question still hung in his head. When would they retire and start a family?

"Well it seems the Anglar are done with.." Panther said looking at the front page of the paper. "Good now you'll stop whining about her not being here." Wolf snarled back to him. "No she'll stay with him, I knew she would." Leon added in. Panther's jaw dropped when he did read that Starfox was once more whole and that Krystal would rejoin them. "That's it I'm killing that egotistical vulpine." Panther swore, spilling some coffee in his rage. "Well then come on let's get to it but he's mine." Wolf told him. "Why because you have always wanted to prove you're better than him?" Panther asked wanting the vulpine's head more than anything now. "You're the one who let our fourth pilot go without any contracts or anything." Wolf growled remembering how angry he had been with Panther the following morning after Krystal had left in the middle of the night. "Well we were treating her like a rabid animal.." Leon added in just to see the two of them fight. "Yes but that's how this organization works. Kill or be killed.. And Panther was killed in this situation." Wolf chuckled, not really caring whether he had the vixen on Star Wolf or not.

"She shot Fox down though I thought she had really changed." Panther explained. "That's why you aren't the leader here." Wolf quickly snapped back hoping to end this stupid argument over a woman he knew Panther would never have gotten. "So a truce until Star Fox is destroyed once more?" Panther asked putting aside the argument entirely. "Sure but don't expect help if big bad McCloud gets on you." Wolf mocked him accepting a handshake.

Fox woke up the next day next to Krystal yet again their hands together and their bodies as close as possible. His life was complete with her and without her it seemed to crumble to bits. He thought about how his life would be now if he hadn't met her on Sauria, if he hadn't taken the mission and if he hadn't have been her hero when she needed it most. He knew that he wouldn't trade what he had now for anything in the world, that he had to protect what they had even if it cost him his life. He seemed to be falling for her all over again even though their love never ended. "I love waking up next to you." She said to him, he hoped he didn't wake her up accidentally. "Why?" He whispered in her ear making it twitch from his warm breath. "Your thoughts." She smiled before rolling over to look into his eyes and also to see his blush when he realized she had been reading his mind. "You don't like to give me any privacy do you?" He asked jokingly trying to keep from blushing at the realization. "Sometimes I can't help it if it's strong enough like your strong emotions for me. They just flow through me without having me try." She smiled knowing that if anything they were more madly in love than ever. Fox pushed thoughts out of his mind and was now drowning in her eyes, the vision putting him in a drunken stupor. "Let's sleep in." She told him before nuzzling her head into his chest for warmth. He was speechless. "Fine but I need to go out later on today." Fox yawned trying to force what he was going to do later out of his mind. "No you don't just stay here with me.." She mumbled, half asleep. He sighed before falling asleep with her hoping he'd wake up in time for the day's plan.

Fox awoke to a tap on his shoulder. "Fox you need to shut off your alarm. "Oh no.." He muttered luckily the time was only 2:26, his alarm was set for 2:15. "Sorry..I need to go out and get something so keep Krystal occupied if she wakes." Fox told him before heading for a shower. With the Great Fox's location a fast flight to Corneria would only take an hour, lucky for him that would leave him plenty of time. "I know what you're going to do." Slippy smirked seeing the vulpine head out the door, smelling of the usual cologne. "Good then don't think about it or Krystal will." He sighed, he decided he would ask her if she would marry him. He knew it was a little early since she had forgiven him but now their love was so strong that he knew she'd be as happy as ever with a ring to express their love.

"Good luck making it through the crowds." Falco yelled out hearing Fox's second Arwing start up. "What will he do if she says no?" Falco asked Slippy. "Well nothing really because they know they love each other. If she says no it's because it's so early." Slippy answered. "I know but it's only been four days and Fox wants to lock the key." Falco chuckled. "Well it's really been two years with them being a month apart." Slippy told him, he was sure Krystal would say yes.

Fox arrived in Corneria hoping to get this done quickly but the site of an Arwing brought a crowd of people. "Can I get through I don't have the time for this." Fox said trying to get through the group mostly filled with photographers. "Gah I hate coming here." He muttered to himself when he got free. Fox headed straight for the shop where he had bought Krystal the necklace, it had obviously been a winner. "F-Fox McCloud?!" One of the saleswomen gasped seeing him walk through the door. "Yeah.." He sighed not wanting any attention especially after yesterday. "I saw that Krystal came back onto the team." She told him with a smile accompanied by a blush of nervousness around such a well-known character. "Wait how does anyone know I only told-- Agh." Fox supposed Peppy let it slip out during a conference or possibly it had been a rumor. "So I'm supposing you're getting something for her?" She asked him with charm. "Yeah..I'm looking for a good ring." He knew this rumor would go a long way now. "Ah.." She giggled knowing what rings were usually for. "Going to pop the question?" She asked seeming not to care a bit about privacy. "Maybe.." He muttered not really wanting to answer her. "Well this is the best one we have." She pointed to the most expensive peice they had. Fox thought she'd like it but it didn't seem to fit her like the necklace had at first so he decided to branch off looking on his own.

Fox finally came upon a peice that almost screamed Krystal to him, it had a purple-blueish glow to it which were her favorite colors along with the generic silver look to it. "I'll take this one." He told the seller making her smile knowing she'd have some stories to tell after this. "It's not a generic engagement ring look just so you know." She told him before punching in the number of the item. "I haven't done this before but I'm sure she'll like it." He blushed slightly, the room seemed to be getting warmer when more and more people came into the store gasping at the vulpine at the counter. "This is weird the system says there is also another Krystal McCloud she told him making him slightly confused. "Weird.." He said below his breath knowing Krystal had bought something and with no last name she had used his. "Thank you." She said before giving the vulpine his item. "Thank god that's over with." He sighed to himself. He hurried to his Arwing which had now become a playground for the media. Finally he got through the crowd back to his Arwing fifteen minutes later.

"Took him long enough." Slippy sighed seeing the Arwing approaching. "Where was he gone to?" Krystal asked still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Conference.." Falco answered bluntly not even thinking of where he had really gone just like Fox said. "I'm starting to hate that place.." Fox muttered coming through the opening door to find everyone there waiting on him. "Yeah so many people." Falco added in. "Krystal.. I think I have someplace we can go though." He told her seeing her still sleepy. "It's six Fox..Too late to do anything today." She answered with a angered look, she had hoped to go to Sauria with him today on vacation but now the day was shot. "Not really come on, we'll be back early." He promised her taking her by the hand. She accepted his offer, trying not to read his thoughts so it'd be a surprise for her. "We'll be back in a bit you guys don't kill each other." The vulpine told the two who now gave him sly winks. They knew where he was taking her. "Fox where are we going?" Krystal asked him now seeing she needed to know the coordinates. "Where do you think?" He asked knowing she would figure it out. "Sauria?" She asked he nodded to her before lifting her into her Arwing's cockpit. "But I've got a big surprise so don't ruin it." He joked at her but was somewhat serious at the same time, if she had found this out it'd kill the moment. "I won't just don't think about it too hard.." She told him over the line.

The flight seemed to last forever but it was worth it when they saw the Saurian night sky illuminating the spot where they always stayed at together, where Krystal had dreams of him and where they gave into their love for each other. Emotions and memories flowed over both of them and there was going to be yet another memory to add to this spot as well. "Fox I love you..You'll always be my hero just like the day we first met." She told him unable to stay silent from the sight and memories combined. "And I'll always give my life for you just like I did then and have many times since." He said chuckling slightly giving her a quick kiss. "Did we come here just to spend the night or..?" She asked him but when she turned she already found him on one knee. "No Krystal I want to know if you'd marry me." He said with a smile before showing her the ring he had bought. She was definitely caught off guard, especially it being so soon after being back together. "Fo-F-F.." She stammered unable to word out anything her arm started shaking slightly. Happiness turned into slight worry for the fox who had thought he possibly gave her a heart attack from the shock. "Fox I-I don't know what to say." She stuttered trying to word out what she wanted to but she couldn't think. The last thing going through her mind now was what their plans were for the night. She stood there still for what seemed to be hours before finally answering him. "Fox I couldn't be happier than I am now." She told him while tears of joy ran down her face. "So..?" He asked wanting the answer, wanting to hear her say yes to him. "Of course I will..But let's not rush things." She told him. He placed the ring on her finger official giving him the right to call her his own. "I don't want to rush Krystal I just wanted to prove that i'm not letting you go." He smiled holding her hand. "So stay the night here?" She asked him smiling to see him already placing her on his lap. "It's what I had planned." He told her before getting up and pulling out a quite large sleeping bag from his Arwing.

_-Author's Note: Yeah rushed into that but hey why not. I enjoyed writing this chapter alot and as it shows things will heat up between Star Wolf and Star Fox before the end also a wedding.. I'm enjoying writing these longer chapters and I hope you guys are enjoying them too..Not many mistakes I hope except for the usual slight ones...Even when this fanfic is done I'll continue writing mini adventures with Fox and Krystal fluff in it because I love to write it to say the least.. Like I said last chapter: If you enjoy this one check my page often or even fav me there's much more to come.-_


	60. LX Yet Another Dogfight

LX. Yet Another Dogfight.

"We did n-n-not think this out." Krystal shivered regretting their night's decisions. "I find it somewhat peaceful." The vulpine said hardly awake. It had been raining down for the past half hour and didn't seem like it was going to wane. Krystal just couldn't seem to stop shaking next to her future husband and Fox couldn't help but grip her tighter hoping to warm her slightly. "Want to head back?" Fox asked knowing that she was partially miserable now and probably sore from the final battle with the Anglar. "N-No..It'll-It'll stop" She shivered. Why couldn't this moment have been perfect for them. "I don't really think we'll have a choice sadly." He said looking down at the ground around them before directing his attention to the vixen who was hiding in his chest fur. Their sleeping bag was already soaked. "I don't want to leave this place though.." She told him but she knew there was no chance in them making it through the night and staying warm here. "I'll set your Arwing to auto-follow me and I'll get you back. You just rest up." He told her lifting her into her cockpit treating her once more like royalty. "Thanks." She mumbled not even able to keep her eyes open much longer. He knew things had been rough on her the past month and he needed to help her as much as possible.

The flight of an Arwing coming in late at night woke the whole team. "I thought they'd be gone all night.." Falco said leaving his room and going to turn off the security systems. "Why you two home so early?" Falco asked seeing the vulpine holding a soaked vixen, fast asleep in his arms. "Rain.." He sighed "Figures." Falco answered letting them in before locking up the ship. "You give her a drug or something?" Falco asked seeing that Krystal hadn't even moved slightly. "No she's just beat from that whole ordeal.. I am too so I'm heading for bed." Fox didn't want to seem rude but conversation now would end up poorly. "You two are somethin' else.." Falco muttered before heading to bed himself.

Krystal's eyes fluttered open seeing Solar brightly shining into the room, she hardly remembered the other night after Fox had proposed. It all dawned to her when she found she was now in the Great Fox that it had rained and Fox had flown her here overnight while she slept, moments like this is why she told him yes. "You okay?" Fox asked feeling her move around. "I couldn't be better." She responded to him wondering what the day would bring now. "Well I think I could help you more." He smiled before rubbing her back where he knew she had bruised up. "Ow..Not so hard." She yelped from his touch. "Sorry, I know what it's like having these from the seat." Fox told her knowing whenever he was in intense battle he would get bruises from his cockpit's seat. "This is my first.." She mumbled halfway in a trance from his magic touch. All was well until they saw a familiar set of ships in the distance, glowing from Solar's brightness. "Fox!" Krystal broke out of the trance jumping up slightly in fear. "I didn't think they'd find us so easily. Come on get dressed and i'll get Falco and Slippy before they destroy this ship." Fox said calmly. It was three Wolfens, one with the traditional red rose on the side which Fox had an idea he or Krystal would see alot of in the combat they couldn't avoid.

"Which one do you want, Krystal or Fox?" Wolf asked Panther in a mocking way knowing either of them would probably destroy him. "I'll take that vulpine first if I can.." Panther growled. Wolf's team was soon met by a sloppily ordered Star Fox team who had not expected this attack. "What do you guys want?" Fox asked, knowing exactly what they wanted. "Revenge, it seems Krystal's double crossed us and even worse we heard a rumor of a marriage too." Panther said making Fox cover his face with his palm. "Can anyone keep a secret in this galaxy?" He sighed to himself. "Anyhow we'd like a fight to pass the time and Panther wants revenge." Wolf told them before flying into a better position. "Krystal stay back I don't know what they have planned." Fox said wanting to keep her safe as always, she knew what they had planned though, they were going to play it the normal way. Fox knew Krystal would like as much slack as she could get as well after the huge mission they had just finished. "Aww protecting your girl now, don't bother she'll leave you in a few weeks." Wolf taunted the vulpine forcing him boil with rage, making fun of Krystal in front of Fox was a death sentence.

Everyone's head seemed to turn, hearing a weird mechanical whirring sound. Fox had already charged his laser and picked Panther out first, not knowing if he'd be after him or Krystal more. "Someone's got more aggressive." Wolf said seeing Panther's ship almost destroyed already thanks to Slippy's blaster improvements. Panther was speechless, acting on instinct he flew for whoever had just hit him; that person being Fox. Falco picked out Leon as usual and Slippy went with him, leaving Krystal and Fox with Wolf and Panther's half destroyed ship. Panther couldn't manage to get behind the vulpine thanks to Krystal already being stationary behind him, guarding his back. "Fox behind." Krystal alerted him when Wolf and Panther swooped behind him. She couldn't keep track of both of the Wolfens while staying still so she bailed out of the location before they got them both down easily. "Not now.." Fox muttered, his engine not working for some reason now. Fox saw Panther's Wolfen head off for Krystal while Wolf's stayed out of sight, his ship rocked back and forth with the hits he was taking. "Finally." Fox said as his engine working, he flew off looking for a good area to lose Wolf at.

"Slippy this Arwing's having problems." Fox complained to him. "I'll check it out later, maybe you did something to it last night." Slippy replied focusing on taking down Leon. "I can't get Wolf off of me Krystal, you okay?" Fox asked making sure his future bride was going to be alright while he fought off his rival. "Yeah I can take him easily." Krystal taunted Panther who wasn't in the mood for losing. Fox's systems suddenly had a failure coming from around his engine, his cockpit was flashing from a red light. "Fox what's going on?" Krystal asked seeing his ship flashing on her HUD. "I don't know.." Fox started coughing, smoke filling his cockpit more and more each second. Something had broke and was now filling his ship, he had to act fast or suffer a possible death. "I-I can't see." Fox said loudly in distress now, Panther smiled at his misfortune before Krystal shot him one last time. Krystal knew now was her time to protect him in his time of need, she flew over and tried to pull Wolf off of the vulpine who was now swerving hoping not to be hit or to hit anything in his way. "Fox put it on autopilot back to the Great Fox." Slippy barked an order. Fox fumbled around trying to find the buttons to activate this method.

"Got it...But i'm feeling.." He passed out on the dashboard from whatever fume was filling his cockpit. "Fox?" Krystal asked praying for him to respond. "Fox!" She yelled this time still getting nothing. "Your boyfriend is already dead.." Panther said with a slight laugh trying to rattle her in any way, hoping to keep this ship in one piece. "He's fine." She told him still sensing brainwaves from him. "You won't be.." Panther said seeing Wolf now hot on her tail. She sensed the attack without even looking at radar and decided she'd show them just how good of a pilot she was. She combined a barrel roll with a somersault to get behind Wolf and deflect his fire at the same time. Now both of them were at her mercy, Wolf tried to twist back behind her but she slammed on the brakes and fired at his Wolfen just like Fox would. Leon had already been forced to retreat so Slippy and Falco watched with amazement at how good Krystal had gotten at this. Wolf's ship went down easily leaving Panther trying to retreat, giving up on keeping any self respect. "Let him go Krys." Falco told her not wanting her to run into any traps they had left. "Fine.." She sighed knowing that Star Wolf had lost once again by underestimating their power. Wolf was the last to leave wondering if there was even a point in all of this fighting other than giving Panther some revenge. Perhaps age was changing the way he thought about this situation.

"We need to check on Fox anyways." Krystal said rushing into the hangar to make sure Fox was okay. She had hoped Slippy or Falco would've done it while she had her hands full. "Come on open.." She yelled at her wrist trying to get the canopy of his cockpit to open. "Get it open Slippy." Krystal said, obviously frustrated, "Got it." Slippy said messing with the programming, Fox's head finally became visible as the puff of smoke left his cockpit and filled the room. "What happened anyways?" She asked him hoping Slippy would know. "Well something hit the exhaust and wiring that's why his engine had troubles, I'll check it out." Slippy told her before disassembling the Arwing part by part. "I'll make sure he's okay." Krystal said struggling to pull the vulpine out of the seat. "Falco help me." She grunted, Falco nodded and helped get Fox inside.

Krystal sat there holding Fox's hand until whenever he would wake-up, using her telepathy to see what he was dreaming about which only made her smile. It was somehow the same dream setup he always had. They were both in Sauria where they had been last night (Thankfully there was no rain), Fox was so obsessed by his love for her it was crazy but she felt the same way about him and never wanted this to fade, their love somehow made them stronger in their line of work but also weaker at the same time. "Krystal?" Fox asked looking up into her eyes. "I didn't think you were going to wake." She smirked at him before planting a kiss on his cheek. "I'm not dead and in heaven am I?" He asked cheesily making her giggle. "That was a bad one." She told him before flicking his nose to annoy him. "I know." He said feeling the ring on her hand once more. "I got both Wolf and Panther after you passed out by the way." She told him proud of her new accomplishment. "I think you're becoming a better pilot than me." He told her with a smile and a hint of honesty. "That'd be impossible." She told him knowing she had a long way to go before she could take out beings like Andross and the Aparoid Queen alone. "What happened to my Arwing anyways?" Fox asked making Krystal laugh. "Well apparently.." She couldn't help but giggle even more, she was in a giggling fit. "When it rained on Sauria..Scarabs were looking for a place to stay and they got into your Arwing." She couldn't keep a straight face at the situation. "Funny for you..I thought I was going to die." He said thinking of the chances that this could've happened.

Fox groaned getting up, his chest was sore and he knew he wouldn't be able to do much today after that dogfight. "Fox lay back down." Krystal tried to tell him but he was already off getting a drink. "Hey Fox you've got a message from Peppy." Krystal could hear Slippy say. "Great..Another mission." She sighed putting her face into the pillow. She wanted to continue doing Star Fox but wanted to take a break with Fox especially after he proposed. "Great, i'll check it out in a minute." fox said before heading back in to see Krystal face down on the bed. "You heard I assume?" He asked. "Yes.." She said back to him, her voice muffled. "Well let's see what we've got to do next..I'm sure Panther won't be done with us either." Fox sighed.

_-Author's Note: Short dogfight slight comedy and the fluff continues..The streak was broken last night sadly, I was in my own little world and waited until 5 AM to start writing...Only giving me thirty minutes :/. hopefully not many errors and a new mission and possibly the last real mission to come in the next chapters..Thanks for the reviews and PMs you guys are awesome!-_


	61. LXI Growing Too Soft?

LXI. Growing Too Soft?

Krystal sat on the bed flipping through channels, nothing much was on and Fox was sleeping beside her like a baby. After their incident on the battlefield he should be, well atleast she thought he was okay until he started shaking and sweating fiercely next to her. "Fox?" She asked looking down seeing him curling into a ball almost as if he were in pain or scared to death. "Fox!" She shook him but he wouldn't wake up, his body was so warm compared to hers and he was sweating more than ever before. "Fox! Wake up!" She shook him but he didn't reply. She couldn't wake him so she decided to see what was bothering him so much, possibly it was the dream or maybe just a side effect from the chemicals he was exposed to. "Please just wake up.." She muttered shaking him violently. "Krystal.." He muttered and opened his eyes, before she could read his thoughts he was awake and looking into her eyes as if nothing happened. "I-I need to get a glass of water." He muttered again before getting up, sweat covering his face. "What the heck was that?" She asked herself feeling how warm his side of the bed was. "He needs a vacation." She told herself, thinking out what would be perfect for him, maybe yet another trip to Sauria

"Sensing extreme heat entering the room.." R.O.B. Alerted when Fox entered making Falco and Slippy laugh. "Krystal beat you up?" Falco said jokingly with a hint of seriousness as well. "Had that weird dream again." He sighed chugging down almost a gallon of water, trying to regain what he lost from sweating. "The one where-- Oh.." Slippy sighed not knowing how Krystal could've taken his reactions. "Yeah but I think Krystal being near me makes them much more intense.." He panted. "My chest is killing me." He finished catching his breath still. "Well Amanda and I are getting married in a couple of weeks so possibly we could take a vacation for bit..Maybe even you and Krystal could tie the knot before we get started again too." Slippy said making the vulpine even redder. "I don't think we're going to rush into that Slip." Fox said honestly not knowing which Krystal would prefer, even though they basically were a married couple as it was. "Just sayin'." Slippy told him. Fox grimaced looking down into the mostly emptied water glass, he had never been a big fan of Aquas and living there for a couple of weeks wouldn't be his prime location for a vacation but he _had_ to make Slippy's wedding.

"You okay?" Krystal asked now reading into one of his books. "Yeah..How did you find that?" Fox asked, seeing she found one of his favorite books that he kept hidden. "I know how you keep things, it's a good book I don't see why you're embarrassed about it." Krystal replied, she had already gotten through a couple of chapters. "It's something that kept me sane when you left.." He muttered under his breath. "I can see a resemblance." She smiled at him dragging him onto the bed next to her. "Main character is shy like you were and from what I read he gets the girl." She continued to smile. He was being put on spot again and disliked it but yet liked it at the same time. His face was blood red probably at this point, if Falco.. Or worse Wolf found this he'd seem weak. Fox smirked thinking of what dirt he could probably find on either of them but was snapped back into the conversation. "What happened to you earlier?" Krystal asked him. "Just a..Well I'll tell you later." Fox stammered.

"We need to go to Aquas soon for Slippy's wedding." Fox said attempting to change the subject for just another minute. "Yeah he's been talking about it forever..Haven't you been listening?" She asked. "Yeah but I didn't think it'd be this soon." Fox sighed before bringing up the question. "So when are we going to get married?" "Whenever you want." She answered not really caring how soon or late he wanted it. "Maybe in a few months?" He asked knowing it hadn't been a concern to him. "Yeah but not right away..I don't want the news to feel like we're too desperate." She said making him groan, the media would be all over them on this and he hadn't realized. "I hope Slippy's goes by unnoticed.." Fox mumbled knowing how much of a mood killer thousands of people asking questions could be. "Speaking of marriages and new last names, Krystal why did you use my last name to purchase something?" Fox asked as the thought dawned on him. "What? Ohh.." She blushed as bright as ever. "Care to explain this one?" He asked noticing her emberassment. "They needed a last name and I didn't have one..But that was years ago." She laughed at her own misfortune that he had found out. "So technically you already are my wife huh." He joked at her once more. "If you want to believe so." She smirked before curling up next to him as usual, wanting to end that conversation.

The two soon fell asleep together in an embrace as usual, the TV still on and the lights not even out they had just passed out from each other's company. It wasn't long until Fox started shaking and dreaming of the same thing, Krystal woke up to the sound of his panting and noticed he was like her personal heater. "Fox.." She murmured still half asleep. "Stop it..It's not funny." She sighed again feeling him shake rapidly. "Fox!" She yelled this time, angered that he would take it this far and wake her up. Her anger turned to worry when she saw he was still asleep and not joking at all. He was sweating again and his body temperature skyrocketed. "Fox wake up." She tried forcing his eyes open. "Krystal..I can't leav.." He mumbled in his sleep still shaking. "Leave what? Fox?" She was worried for him, maybe he needed medical help. Fox's eyes opened and shined with a glowing blue light. "Oh not this again..Fox!" She shook him knowing he was having the visions again now. She couldn't wake him up so she looked in with her natural ability, the ability that was causing him to have these odd dreams, to see what he was seeing.

Fox's heart raced, it was the same vision he had years ago; the one where he died. It was odd because this time Fox was seeing it from a third person point of view. Fox gasped for breath just like he did in his dream showing her how realistic it was to him, she sensed his agony and him struggling almost as if he was almost dying for real. She knew she had to wake him up before he ended up having a heart attack, suddenly his dream changed from third person to first person point of view almost making her brain hurt. "Fox wake up!" She yelled shaking him more and more, the vulpine gasped for breath and woke up. "Krystal I-I." He didn't even know how to explain what was happening now. "I know what happened Fox and I'm here." She comforted him. "Krystal I don't know what's come over me.." He tried to explain but was hushed by Krystal. "I know what happened Fox, just let me take care of you for tonight and then we'll go to Sauria tommorow and start our own vacation." She told him. "That'd be nice." He told her in a scratchy voice, he obviously wasn't fully awake yet. "Slippy's going to ask you something tommorow too so get some rest." She told him, baffling him. "What could he want to--" "Shh." She told him trying to get him back to sleep, a normal sleep. It didn't take him long to get there and for the first time Fox fell asleep in Krystal's arms, both enjoying the new feeling of the role reversal and looking forward to their vacation while also fearing that these visions might become real.

Fox yawned, looking out to see Aquas in the distance, what a night it had been. "Seems like you're turning into the lazy one.." Krystal whispered in his ear "I've had a long week." Fox mumbled back "It's Tuesday." Krystal said with a giggle "Well you know what I mean." He smirked at her "You need to talk to Slippy." She told him still keeping the volume down to a whisper. "Alright." Fox yawned getting up from his comfortable sleep.

Fox threw on some gym shorts and headed out to talk to Slippy not sure on what the toad would want to tell him. "Hey Slippy." Fox greeted his friend. "Hey Fox, Krystal tell you to come?" He asked the vulpine "Yeah, so what do you need to talk about?" The vulpine asked cutting straight to the point. "I was curious if you'd be my best man at the wedding." Fox wasn't taken by shock. "Of course I will Slip'." Fox could tell he was a bit nervous at the time but Fox knew he would be too when he asked him in a couple of months. "Thanks oh and also you and Krystal will have plenty of time off before the wedding." Slippy added. "Thank god.." The vulpine muttered under his breath, not that he didn't want to go to the wedding he just wanted this vacation alone with Krystal.

It wasn't an hour before the two packed up their things and left to see Tricky once again, they knew their stay would be short but they also knew that they needed the time off. Fox knew how much Krystal loved that area and possibly he could find where they'd put their future home, she'd be ecstatic if they lived there for the rest of their life whenever they decided to end Star Fox. "I wish they had a forecast for Sauria.." Krystal muttered, her clothes already packed for three days. "It should be fine, if it isn't we can always come back." Fox told her grabbing her things and heading out to the hangar to put it in the Arwings. "Just don't get into any trouble like you two always do." Falco advised jokingly making Krystal roll her eyes. "I'll have Fox with me so I should be fine." She told him making him laugh even more. "I dunno which one of you gets into more trouble.." Falco joked trying to get on Krystal's nerves one last time. "Give it a rest Falco and have fun on Aquas." Fox said entering the room to tell Krystal he was ready. "Alright..We'll be back in a couple of days..Hopefully." Fox added taking Krystal to their Arwings and praying General Peppy wouldn't have a mission for them. "Well Slippy looks like it's just you and me now.." Falco sighed looking across the now empty room. "Erm..Actually I have a date with Amanda tonight since it's been a while so you're on your own." Slippy said nervously "Alright then I got the place all to myself." The avian said proudly trying to not seem bored already at the thought of being alone. "Go check out Aquas, it's really changed." Slippy suggested, the bird only nodded before heading off for a shower.

Not much later two Arwings landed on a grassy area in Cape Claw. "I think I have a surprise for you." Fox told her looking around the Saurian landscape, this place had been just like home for him with how many visits he did. "What else could you have waiting for me?" She asked looking around just as he had been. "Well I'll show you." He smiled at her pulling her by the arm. "Hey wait I don't have my stuff." She told him struggling against his grip, his strength nullified her struggle. "You can come back." He told her bluntly, dragging her off to god knows where. "Okay were here." Fox told her looking at what seemed to be a rundown hut. "You got this?" She asked seeming actually surprised that it wasn't as luxurious as most of Fox's items. "Well Tricky told me I could use it and it's better than sleeping on the ground." He smirked, he too had expected it to be in better shape. "Well home sweet home." Krystal grunted trying to pull the door open. "Beats sleeping in the rain but expect Tricky to come by soon." Fox said, he had hoped on using this hut the night he proposed but for some reason it had been in use so he called Tricky early that morning to make sure he could use it this time.

"Fox!" An all too familiar voice yelled from behind him. "Tricky!" Krystal yelled back in excitement making Fox rub the back of his neck. "What happened to you?" She asked seeing a large bandage around him. "Oh that's nothing, how have you two been?" He asked, seeming alot more mature now than last time they met. "How did you get that bandage on?" Fox asked seeing as he didn't have paws like himself. "Some Sharpclaw did it for me." He explained, baffling the vulpine. "Sharpclaw..huh.." The vulpine thought aloud, the enemy he had fought so visciously on his first trip here were now friendly with Tricky's tribe, the memory only made him think more on his first trip and how many poor Sharpclaws he must've killed who were just executing orders. "You two here on your honeymoon like I guessed?" Tricky asked snapping the vulpine's memories from his mind. "Uh..No actually we're just visiting for time off." Fox said rubbing his neck once more showing his nervousness on talking about the situation to Tricky. "We're engaged." Krystal said making the vulpine's face red with either anger or emberassment. "I knew it, see how things come together." He said happily, the redness fading from Fox's face. "Heh..Yeah." Krystal said seeing Fox standing there with a dumb look on his face. "Well i'll let you two get situated here." Tricky said before patrolling off looking like he was looking for an item. "You first Mrs. McCloud." Fox told Krystal, not referring to the marriage as much as their conversation from earlier. She picked up on what he was aiming for and now she was the one to blush.

"This would actually be a nice location for a house." Krystal said looking out the window at the scenery Cape Claw had to offer. "Yeah..I remember having to swim all the way out there to save you and that was just after I saved you for the first time." He said with a chuckle. "You almost died.." She murmured, obviously not happy with where that was going after his dreams. "You did too but then you ended up saving me." He whispered enjoying the view of her and not the scenery. "To think all of this came out of a mission you just wanted to finish quickly for cash." She told him with a smirk. "Well if I had known you were here when I started I--" "You didn't even want to do it because it'd take up time." She interrupted him. "Yeah but I had to when I heard you were in pain, even if I didn't like it." He argued back. "Oh and then you saw me and then you rushed quickly to get the rest of those spirits." She smiled at him. "It was well worth it."He smiled back taking her paw in his.

Thinking back on it Fox saw how much he had changed, as a starter he was too eager and normally got in alot of trouble like Falco still did. He killed without thought and making his team known for their hard work and avenging his father was his goals then and now he would live on the streets just to wake-up next to Krystal. "I'm growing too soft." He said to himself making Krystal laugh. "Yeah that shot on Panther before we started our fight was so nice of you." She told him sarcastically. "I guess you're right, I'm just thinking too much." He told her before going to sit on their temporary 'porch'. She quickly followed him to make sure he was okay, she could sense that these dreams were making him regret all of his actions and deep inside she was regretting talking him into continuing Star Fox.

"Do you just want to quit here?" She asked him caringly "Of course not Krystal. I just don't think I'm mercenary material anymore." He said looking out on the horizon. "You aren't really a mercenary anyways. You do most of your jobs for Corneria and not space trash." She smiled at him. "Yeah after you came along I've enjoyed time off more than missions so I haven't taken alot of offers." "So before me you took any job you could?" She asked him knowing he didn't, his sense of justice was too much for him to accept just any job. "Well not _any_ job but I did more dangerous things." He smirked not knowing how she'd take this one. "So what we're doing now isn't that dangerous?" She asked him. "Well some of it is, like the Aparoids and possibly even Star Wolf duels but I never really saw the Anglar as that much of a threat." He admitted. "The Anglar were only powerful from their numbers, we proved that on Venom." She told him with a smile that melted him for some reason. "Enough of this we're on vacation and I want to enjoy it." He picked her up and carried her out to the beach, hoping they could change the subject there.

"I wonder what Amanda's like." Krystal thought aloud. "I dunno probably alot like you." Fox told her, knowing Slippy would get one of the nicer girls. "I hope She's a good match for Slippy." She said to him. "I'm sure she is, he seems happy he deserves it ." He smiled back. "I wonder what Falco is doing." Krystal pondered with a giggle, she could only imagine. "Probably on Aquas complaining about something." Fox told her making her giggle more. He was right but there were more important things going on in the Lylat System that he didn't know about or would've ever expected.

"What you can't just go off and leave." Leon hissed at Wolf. "I can do whatever I want. I founded this team and if I want to end it I can." Wolf growled back. He had been thinking so much about how Fox's life had been and it just ended up making him want to stop Star Wolf, it was pointless now that Fox was attached to something other than fighting. Sure Wolf got the thrill from fighting Fox but it wasn't the same anymore especially with Krystal in the scene, perhaps helping Star Fox with the Aparoids was a bad idea. "Well if Wolf leaves I'm not staying with this lizard.." Panther said in a low tone bringing a glare from Leon. "Wolf just get your dress off and take out Fox one last time." Leon seemed to beg. "I'm up for another try to take out Fox..And Krystal." Panther added in. "You guys don't get it, they have four we have three it's pointless." Wolf stated "And honestly they have a better roster than we do." Wolf went on to admit. "We just need to take them by surprise." Panther said. "I'd rather not make a plan just to catch Fox offguard so we feel superior, face it the only way to really beat them is dogfighting and we don't have the men." Wolf grunted almost as if it were painful for him to say it, maybe he was just getting older. "What the?" Leon asked not knowing what happened to Wolf in the past three days. "Well I guess that's the end of Star Wolf." Panther said in his low voice once more. "He'll snap out of it tommorow." Leon assured Panther "If not he'll come back crying for money." Leon laughed.

Back on Sauria the couple had been in bed for almost an hour even though the night was early. "Fox quit moving.." Krystal muttered to him, Fox couldn't help it his mind was filled. "Fox.." Krystal sat up looking at the vulpine in an odd way. "You're scared aren't you?" She asked him "Scared? Of what?" He asked defensively. "That vision." She told him, rubbing his furry arm gently trying to show she wasn't making fun of him. "No." He told her, thankfully it was dark and she couldn't see his blushing. "Then why are you clinching your blaster?" She noticed his blaster on his belt. "Well, I guess I am a little on guard but I have a reason to." He said now putting his blaster on the table beside the bed. "I guess you do, but don't be paranoid.." She whispered to him knowing that she was paranoid as well. "Love you, night." She told him before rolling over. "Hmm..Night." He muttered hoping he'd get to sleep this time.

The two woke up the next day and decided to walk around Sauria for old time's sake. It wasn't until they reached the old well that they had to climb down that the conversation sparked. "So what was it like Krystal?" Fox asked bluntly. "What?" She asked him holding his paw in hers. "Growing up on your own." He smiled grasping her paw alot tighter for a moment. "You've asked before.." She smiled at him. "Yeah but I want to know the details." He smirked. "I don't quite know how to put it. It's hard to I'll say that and if I didn't have telepathy I'd probably be dead." She admitted slightly choking up as memories of her homeworld and her parents floated in her head. "Hey, it's okay. Things worked out, sorta." He tried to comfort her but the tears had started to fall. "It's just so hard to think about." She coughed out. "I'm sorry I asked." He told her wiping the tears from her face. "Well I need to tell you sometime." She sighed, she decided it'd be easier to use her ability to show him. "Here." She told him before invading his own mind a blurred image popped into his head of a young blue fox who was shivering in the rain, that's as far as it got. "Krystal.." He was speechless, he had expected her to have had more help than that but she practically raised herself it seemed. Fox felt like carrying her the rest of the way but he didn't trust the ladder to get from Cape Claw to Thorntail Hollow. "Just think of it this way Krystal, our kids will have it ten times better than I had it and a hundred times better than what you had." He attempted to soothe her pain. "Yeah.." She muttered wiping tears from her eyes. "Without you my life is pointless." She told him making him smile "Without you my life is worthless and pointless." He smirked at her making her smack him playfully. "You're the best pilot in the galaxy so you will never be worthless." She made a point, but that's not how Fox felt when they had gone their separate ways, even though that only was for a couple of weeks. "If I could I'd go back and find you so you wouldn't have to live like that." "You wouldn't have found me though." She sighed. "Come on Fox let's just keep going, I want to make it to the mountains before we have to turn back. "Alright." He smiled at her before heading down the ladder first.

"Wolf." Leon hissed seeing the canine's things were already packed. "You really doin' this?" "I need time off guys I might be back but I'm not making promises." The wolf told him before heading towards his trusty starship. "Well I guess we're going solo now." Panther said. "Well it beats being with you." Leon hissed before heading towards his room to pack, Panther sat there knowing the ship would be all his for atleast a few days if he stayed. "Ahh a nice quiet house." He purred to himself drinking his coffee and reading the paper for any Star Fox gossip. "Hmm, that toad's getting married..Perfect." He smiled.

"So what's Aquas like?" Krystal asked Fox climbing over a fallen tree. "It's just a big ocean." He grunted pulling her over a large wall. "Nothing special, I hated the place when I had to go on a mission." He continued looking into her eyes, the eyes that melted him every single time. "Well we're going to go see how terrible it is soon." She smiled at him walking up the path to the top of the mountain. "Out of all we've done what has been your favorite mission?" Krystal asked him making him smile. "Before you joined the team or after?" "Before?" She asked curious to know his answer. "The first time I came here and rescued you definitely." She couldn't help but laugh. "Why? It was hard on you." She smirked hoping he'd answer this just right. "Look at the results though, wonderful place to go and a beautiful girlfr-- err, wife." He answered it right enough for her to smile and kiss him. "After I joined?" "Umm..That's kinda tough but I'll have to say when we came back to rescue this place from the Aparoids." She giggled remembering how she had attacked him from overflowing emotions. "You kinda took me by surprise at the end of that one but I'm glad you did it." He held her paw before noticing her shivering. They had walked out into a different terrain and hadn't even noticed, snow. "W-W-We should start on our way back." She smiled, her teeth chattering from the freezing temperatures. "Yeah but w-what was your favorite mission?" He asked, now shivering some himself. "The last fight with the Anglar." She would've answered what Fox did but wanted to choose something else. "You liked being the hero?" He asked making her blush some. "Well it's not just that because we got back together too." "Suure.." Fox said jokingly causing her to slap him softly. "I know you're not one for fame, that's another reason why you're perfect for me." He said from the heart. "You aren't one for fame either yet you get it." She smirked. "Yeah but without you I'm nothing." The two had walked clumsily onto a teleportation pad that they hadn't noticed. "What the?" Fox asked as he was slung around in what seemed to be space.

"Woah..Where are we?" Krystal asked, her vision blurred dramatically before she fell to the ground from the new sensation. "You should know this place very, very well." He said before helping her up. "I don't believe it, that ported us here?" Krystal asked even though the results were obvious. "Yeah it's how I got here all the time, I thought you said you were watching me when I rescued you." He replied looking her in the eye before looking at the landscape once more. It was raining like it always was and it looked almost like the day it did when Fox saw her for the first time. They were at the most powerful place on the planet, Krazoa Palace. "Well come on let's get back to the hut." Fox suggested, she refused to follow him making him sigh "I want to look around, it's been so long." She told him making him slightly worried. "Krystal what if we anger the spirits." He was the worried one for once, already knowing his luck in this area when they were having a good time. "They won't be mad, you saved this whole planet from destruction. They'll be honored to see you at the least." She made a point, finally Fox decided why not and followed her through the large temple. "I'm glad this actually happened." Krystal admitted. "You wanted to come here?" He asked, something so simple that he hadn't expected she wanted to do. "Yeah but I was afraid to ask from your memories bothering you." She told him making him chuckle slightly. "Whatever you want to do I'll do it." He told her as always with a smile that made her smile too. "Same for you." She told him before using the fan elevator and pulling him with her with all of her strength.

"Wow..This place brings back memories.." Krystal muttered breaking the silence as the made it to the top. "Yeah.." Fox's mind had been fixed on that day he saved her. "You're still so beautiful." He told her a dreamlike state. "And you're still my hero." She responded to him looking into his eyes, seeing for some reason his brain had turned to mush. "I'm sorry I just keep getting these memories coming here, it's been a while and I honestly didn't expect to come back." He told her making her smile. "Me too but I hardly have any good memories from here." She was right, all she did here was sit there, imprisoned in that crystal (which was quite ironic with her name). "Yeah I guess so, I could've gotten you out even faster if I had known." He sighed remembering the wasted time he had spent to please Tricky's need to play with that ball he had to buy. "Don't be so hard on yourself, I'm fine aren't I?" She smirked at him, this place looked so different without the crystal on top of it. Suddenly Krystal got more and more memories flowing through her mind"Well I guess that's it for now.. Krystal?" He asked seeing her now down to her knees. "Krystal are you okay?" He was now worried. "Just memories..So many memories flooding my mind." She didn't mention most of them were about the pain she was in while her energy and powers were drained by Andross, in fact she could still feel the pain. "Ow." Fox blurted when he tried to even touch her. What was happening to her now? "It hurts to even touch you.." He muttered. She didn't even respond, she was so entrapped in her own mind. "Krys.." He muttered not knowing what to do. "Fox, woah." She gasped, her breathing quickened dramatically.

"Krystal.." He touched her expecting the burst of pain but nothing came. "Was that your telepathy?" He asked, knowing that had to be the reason unless the Krazoa spirits had something to do with it. "I just.." She tried to explain but couldn't, she collapsed into his arms praying he would catch her. He did and picked her up, looking down at her. "Krystal are you okay?" He asked. "Yeah..I think so." She said quietly looking up at him. "So many memories." She muttered to him. "Painful ones?" He asked, concerned that she might end up with something permanent. "Yes, of when I was trapped here and they were so powerful I blacked out." She explained without stopping to breathe. "I couldn't even touch you.." He tried to explain but she was trapped in a new trance. "It was painful to me." She nodded to him right as he finished. She just looked up to him before fainting in his arms. "Krystal?" He asked again, knowing now she would be out for quite a while. Right before him sat one of the Krazoa Spirits, seeming to want his attention.

"It has been a long time, Hero of Sauria." The spirit told him. "What did you do to her?" He asked knowing now what had happened, atleast he thought he did. "She had a flood of thoughts when she came back to this sacred spot." The Krazoa tried to explain, the spirits really had nothing to do with the vixen's problem. "But why did she black out and I'm fine?" He asked. "Her memories were more of pain than of joy, unlike yours and she also had some emotional pain she had kept suppressed for years." "Did her telepathy cause this mainly?" He asked wanting to get as much information as possible "Yes, her ability can be a burden at times."The spirit told him in the same wise way. "She will be fine though but she needs rest more than anything." The spirit told him again"Take her back to your shelter, I will transport you to Thorntail Hollow." He finished before sending Fox into another warp."What a life." He muttered as soon as he arrived in the middle of the camp, he couldn't help brushing the hair from her face. "This'll be a fun walk." He murmured to himself before heading down the path to Cape Claw.

"What happened?" Krystal asked Fox as soon as they made it to the maze. "You blacked out after having a..Moment back there." He told her, happy to see her awake. "Oh..Sorry I guess I ruined that one for us." She still seemed disturbed by what she remembered. "No problem, I just can't wait to get back to Cape Claw." He told her, his legs were quite worn from carrying her this far added with what he walked already that day. "Fox what would I do without you." She smiled at him making him smirk. "Go back to sleep." He told her sweetly, wiping the sweat off of his brow with his shirt's sleeve. "How are we going to get past the well if I go back to sleep?" She made a point, Fox wouldn't be able to manage that with her knocked out. "Good point, you want to walk or have me carry you?" He asked her "I'll walk." She told him before he let her down. She took a moment to stretch, Fox felt his back pop. "Tired?" She asked him even though the answer was obvious. "Like you'd know you were asleep." He kidded. "Yeah but I'm still tired." She admitted, the two apparently were getting tired and lazy.

"Home sweet hut.." She said jokingly as they made there way back to their house for the weekend. "What will we do next?" Fox asked, flopping down on the makeshift bed. "I don't know maybe fly around like we did years ago when I was just learning to fly." She suggested "That'd be just fine with me." He smiled at her pulling her down on the bed and keeping her captive. "Fox I-" "Too bad I carried you for about 10 miles today." He told her quickly "But I need to brush my teeth...And put on something more comfortable." She told him, he sighed letting her go.

The next morning Fox woke to a strange smell. "Fox wake-up!" Krystal yelled to him from another room. "Fooxx!" She yelled once more before he decided to stand up. It was hard for him to get up, he had been sleeping well. "Wow, you can cook?" The vulpine exclaimed, he never really had seen her cook but he noticed the smell. "Yeah, I haven't had the chance to do it in a while though." She smiled guiding him into the den. "You better not be poisoning me." He joked making her turn to him. "If I was going to kill you, you would've been dead a while ago." She smiled, he couldn't really disagree knowing she had the moments to, especially when they had that dogfight. "So what do you think?" She sat there with crossed arms waiting for his reaction. "It's good." He commented, he was amazed at her skills but the recourses to cook here on this planet weren't as great as those in the suburbs of Corneria. "Thanks." She smiled before starting on hers. "I'm sorry about last night." She apologized to him "It's not your fault Krystal, I don't have the slightest idea of what you went through in that prison. I hardly thought about the first things you said to me before last night." He told her. "What? The give me my staff part?" She asked. "No the time I was leaving after placing the first spellstone. You were choking and obviously in pain when I heard you." He wasn't happy about this conversation taking a bad turn.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to him. "I shouldn't let the past bug me now let's have a good day for once." She smiled at him making him smile back. "Ready to scare some dinosaurs?" Fox asked with a childish grin. "If you mean that by flying low at high speeds then I'm good to go." She smiled back racing him to their ships. They headed for their Arwings and took off just like when he taught her how to fly an Arwing. "Fox you gonna close your canopy?" Krystal asked him noticing that he had been flying for minutes without the top closed. "Nah this feels wonderful." He told her before taking off at even higher speeds. Krystal shrugged and tried it herself after straightening out her ship, the wind started blowing her hair everywhere making Fox laugh. "I never really noticed it getting longer." Fox said to her. "I'm not sure which I like better." She said between laughs, closing her canopy. "Oh great." She said sarcastically "What happened now?" He asked, the wind making him hard to understand. "I lost my picture of you.." She mumbled unhappily. "Well we can get more made." He said to her knowing he had the same copy of that in his Arwing. "Hold on Krystal, Slippy needs me." Fox said noticing his coms system going off the hook.

"Hey how's Sauria?" Slippy asked casually, Fox knew there had to be a problem. "It's a blast, what happened?" Fox asked making the frog's cheeks red. "Well..Promise me you won't be mad..At me." He mumbled making the vulpine curious. "Okay I won't unless it's severe." He promised even though he knew he'd regret that soon. "Falco got into a fight here on Aquas and he might be in jail." Slippy told him, Krystal could hear and couldn't help but laugh. "Well what is this, the fourth, fifth time?" Fox asked making Slippy chuckle nervously. "He's paying his own bail this time." Fox said knowing he usually paid it off for Falco. "Yeah, that's the problem. I sent The Great Fox near Sauria because you guys would need it quicker when Falco got a room and that's where most of his money is." Fox tried to keep in his anger like promised but another vacation had been ruined by something, this time by Falco's big beak. "Alright I'll get it over there." Fox groaned knowing that Falco would need it asap. "But Fox." Krystal whined making him even angrier. "Just take a day for yourself Krys, I'll bail Falco out." He told her before ending the call with Slippy. "I'll be back later, don't get into trouble." He told her before pulling up and towards where his radar showed the Great Fox was. She sighed before flying back to their temporary home knowing now they only had one day left of their vacation.

Fox sighed grabbing Falco's wallet and wondering why he never took it with him, perhaps he expected Slippy to pay for everything or maybe he just grabbed some cash and left. "I can't beleive my luck." He told himself before getting to his Arwing and flying towards Aquas. It was a boring flight for him, he kept trying to contact Krystal but she never answered. She must've had her wrist communicator off and been on land now. "Come on pick up." He said at about the thousandth try. "Fox?" She asked him expecting him to be in trouble. "What's wrong?" She asked him in a concerned voice. "I'm dying of boredom." He told her, making her concerned for a moment. "Well it's not better here." She sighed. "Yeah I see that." He muttered seeing the landscape of where he wished to be in the background. "I miss you." She told him sweetly. "It's only been an hour but I miss being there with you too." He smirked, the two couldn't stand to be apart for some reason. Their closeness only worried him that they would soon have no love for each other and be like any bitter old couple that you'd see on TV. "Gee." He muttered to himself at the thought hoping he wouldn't ever end up like that. "What?" She asked him "Nothing I was just thinking." He sighed expecting her now to read his mind. "Well what were you thinking about?" She asked him making him smile. "You're asking that for once?" He chuckled "I can't read your thoughts from this far.." She muttered although she had tried when she was in with Star Wolf and a couple of times she thought it might've worked but she also thought she was borderline crazy.

"Hey pup!" A familiar voice broke into the conversation, Wolf flying his Wolfen nearby just to fly off the other way. "What the?" Fox asked looking behind at the blur that just went past him. "That was weird, normally he'd try and kill you." Krystal commented "Yeah what's with him?" He asked expecting her once more to use telepathy making her roll her eyes at him. "Sorry I'm used to being with you." He chuckled at her reactions. "Honestly Fox I don't think Sauria is anything special without you." She told him honestly. "Well it wouldn't be there if it weren't for me." He joked cockily. "Yeah but just being here without you is boring." She trailed off seeing a pack of dinosaurs stomping by behind her, they were of the Earthwalker tribe but Tricky wasn't with them. "Yeah well I'm rescuing Falco now so I'll rescue you from boredom in a little bit." He smirked at his own misfortune for playing messenger boy. "Fox I was thinking and.." She was cutout by the sounds of earth rumbling footsteps. "Hold on." He told her seeing that they had almost passed. "I was thinking and maybe we could stay longer than these three days." She told him when she had the chance. "I think that would work out but I do need to get to Corneria for upgrades if Star Fox is to continue." He told her, she nodded knowing that he still had a duty and she also could come with him to make the trip more satisfying. "I'll ask Tricky tonight so we'll know." He told her before seeing something out of the side of his eye. Two more Wolfens that he expected to fly by as well even though it'd be hard for Panther to.

"Well Well Fox.. No girlfriend to save you now." Panther growled making Leon laugh "If you engage you're on your own, I'm just trying to catch Wolf." Panther stared coldly at Leon before focusing back on Fox's Arwing. "I think I can handle this." He smiled seeing that Fox had brought a backup Arwing that still needed some repairs. "Fox I hear Panther!" She warned him as if he didn't know. "I know." He told her before signalling her to stay quiet. "Ah yes I'm supposing you are running out to get Krystal something." Panther said still sitting there. Leon sighed before boosting off to find Wolf. "No but that doesn't matter, I just want to get this done with." He told Panther making him smile. "And I suppose Krystal is somewhere unguarded on Sauria then?" He said bringing an anger from Fox along with confusion. "What tells you she's on Sauria?" He asked "You two always go there, when we shot you guys down and Krystal kept talking about wanting to go there for alone time when she joined the _right_ team." He smirked knowing Fox had been caught. "Star Wolf was the worst thing I've ever been a part of." Krystal joined in "Well she's here with us too." Panther laughed, Fox didn't have time for this. He would just leave if it weren't for him knowing where Krystal would be. "We gonna fight or just chat?" Panther taunted him forcing the vulpine into a duel.

Fox started out trying to get behind Panther, no matter how many times he failed miserably. "Seems like you're getting rusty McCloud." Panther growled before getting a lock on him, Fox's Arwing lacked speed and he didn't know why. Fox grunted pulling up as hard as he could and getting behind the cat finally. Krystal could only watch the fox at work, she hadn't really seen any fights from this point of view before and was amazed at how much different his style was from hers. "Gah." Panther yelled seeing he had been hit, his ship was dangerous but also fragile unlike the balanced Arwing. "Enough of this fighting, you win." Panther asked for mercy knowing that Fox wouldn't go down from him one on one. "No." Fox refused him any mercy knowing he would most likely be after Krystal if he left. "What?" Panther was taken by shock at the vulpine's unfriendliness. Fox used Panther's bafflement to finish the battle right here and now. "I can't beleive this." Panther said to him as Fox flew off. "I thought you were a merciful mercenary." Panther growled "I would be if you didn't try to kill me or Krystal every chance you got." Fox stated before flying away from the motionless Wolfen. "Now what?" Panther asked himself trying his hardest to get the ship to start "I will get revenge soon Fox..Very very soon." Panther growled seeing the Arwing pass through space as a blur.

"Fox..That was kind of heartless." Krystal told him even though he had a reason. "I wouldn't have fought him if he didn't pose a threat to you." He told her sweating slightly even after how brief the combat was. "Just hurry back." She told him still not approving of his merciless decision. "I will, be careful I don't know where Wolf was headed. If they show up just stall until I get there." She only nodded before heading offscreen. All Fox could see was the grass beside her. "Krystal?" He asked seeing now that she had collapsed. He was ready to turn back now to help her. "I'm fine." She choked back at him. "Just feeling sick." Fox sighed, if he wasn't close to Aquas now he'd turn back and let Falco wait. "Head back to our hut and wait for me." He told her, she nodded at him and got in her Arwing.

Fox bailed Falco out and headed to Sauria, hurrying to aid his sick lover. He almost made it to Sauria in a record time in his rush. "Fox?" Krystal called out waking as the door slammed shut. "Yeah I'm coming." He told her before rushing to her side. "What do you need?" He asked willing to do anything. "You." she told him before patting the bed beside her. Fox was amazed to feel that her temperature was extremely high. "I'll talk to Tricky tommorow I figured you needed me more." He told her making her smile slightly. "I think I do." She told him, he'd offer her a kiss but he had no idea of her symptoms at this moment so he just kissed her cheek hoping it would suffice.

_-Author's Note: First of all I apologize for the wait on this chapter and second of all for you action junkies I apologize for the short fight scene. I just have two weddings to do and then the "Fantastic" finish to this story which I have written out in my spare time. Just for an update I could've gotten this chapter out in 3 chapters or even 4 in shorter time but I figured this would be a better mix. Hopefully I haven't missed any emberassing errors from the long time it took to type all of this. My computer keeps crashing and I can't wait to get my new one in a couple of days (Maybe it's all the games I play lol) _**Please Take a Part of my Poll on my fanfiction account page**_** YOU decide which Fanfic I write after this one and I hope people participate although I'm not expecting much on it. **__Personally I'm leaning towards the one set years after Fox and Krys retire which includes Fox and Krystal yet again after enemies for the sake of Lylat. If you've wondered also why my chapters are taking so long I am moving like you might know and my house is being upgraded to get more money so I have a small amount of time and when I have time I feel like my heads spinning yet I try and force myself to write (Thus possibly causing mistakes here) I hope you guys have actually read this small print and not skipped it and thanks for the reviews guys.- _


	62. LXII Curing the Illness

LXII. Curing the Illness

Krystal shivered yet her forehead was burning, her body ached and she had no idea how to stop it. "Is there anything you need or anything?" Fox asked, he had been there by her side all night long and now it was almost three thirty in the morning. "Y-Y-Yeah I could use another blanket." She shivered making Fox feel even more worried than before, maybe she needed to get to a doctor and fast. "Alright I'll be right back." Fox told her, laying his jacket on her hoping it would warm her some. He was burning up in the eighty degree weather but Krystal was freezing somehow reminding Fox of one of his first land missions in a jungle area. Perhaps she had what he had then; Malaria. He doubted it though as he grabbed another blanket from their Arwings, it was the last one. "I f-feel like I'm dying." She told him even worsening his fear. "You'll be fine in a day or two." He told her, they hadn't been sick much and when they did it was usually serious wounds or minor diseases so he didn't really know how to treat this well. "You'll be okay." He told her once more, cuddling up next to her to make her feel warmer and loved. "I feel like this vacation has been good despite the day's consequences." He told her with a smile making her try and giggle as a response. "I've ruined it." She whined knowing that he'd tell her it wasn't her fault afterwards, she didn't even know why she wanted to hear that. "It's not your fault." He told her making her smirk knowing she had been right about his reactions. "We'll prolong our vacation and go on walks and sit around near waterfalls or whatever you want to just get better." He said hoping to give her something to look forward to, which he did.

After what perhaps might've been the longest night the Fox ever had the two got to a very sloppy and late sleep with him waking first. "Still has a temperature." He whispered to himself with slight disgust. He knew he was doing all he could to help her and instead of that making him feel better it made him feel worse knowing his limits. As if things couldn't get worse the floorboards gave way under the vulpine as he walked into the next room trying to get medication for Krystal from a bag he kept at all times just in case. "Great." He said getting back onto the floor looking at the scrapes and cuts from the fall, Krystal awoke to the vulpine yelling words she hardly heard in her life. "Fox?" She asked rushing in seeing the mess he had made, sick or not she couldn't help but laugh. "Hopefully our house will be better built than this." She commented seeing just how scarred up the vulpine had gotten. "Yeah, it will be." He assured her before grabbing what he came for and forcing her back to bed. "Feeling better?" He asked hoping for a yes. "A little, I'm still sore and queasy." She replied looking up to him and putting her paw on his scrape. "Ah watch what you're touching." He told her slightly in pain "Tricky should come sooner or later so we can settle things, you won't need to even get out of bed." He told her making her smile, he thought so much of her and truly treated her like a princess. "Let go." She ordered him, startling him. That was one order he had not ever expected her to say in this situation. "Alright." He said before releasing the vixen he had been holding, she rushed to the bathroom. Obviously still sick.

What seemed to be an eternity later Fox heard Tricky's usual ground shaking footsteps coming towards the house. Every step the dinosaur took showed Fox how fast he and all dinosaurs grew compared to his own kind. "Hey Fox, where's Krystal?" He asked "She's sick." Fox replied grimly. "Ah.." The Saurian native trailed off "Fox!" Yet another voice called out, Krystal had just gotten out and was looking for where the vulpine might've gone. "I'll be right there!" He yelled out so she could hear him from inside before finishing the short conversation with the dinosaur. "Tricky I was wondering if we could spend a few more days here." Fox said expecting it to be okay, which it was. Before Tricky left he told the couple that he'd be back in a couple of hours, seeing Krystal's condition was worse than he thought.

"It was okay to stay a week but if you stay sick long I can't keep you here in this hut." Fox told her making her nod. "I-I'm sorry for ruining everything." She whimpered seeking his embrace "You didn't ruin anything Krystal." He told her lovingly before sliding his arm around her waist. "I kinda did." She muttered sliding closer to him. "You just had a moment up on the Krazoa Palace and then got sick after I had to do something for Slippy and Falco. It's my fault mainly because I have the worst luck when it comes to vacations." She sighed at his statement, his eyes seeming to stare into her very soul. "Fox I-" "Shh." He told her before doing what he felt was right. Krystal was amazed that Fox would kiss her in her condition but sickness or not Fox needed to, he felt like it was his job. "Great, now you'll be sick." She managed to tell him after recovering from the shock. "I know you just brushed your teeth so I should be fine." He told her making her look to the bathroom which seemed to have been raided recently. "Yeah I did." She muttered to him before giving a goofy smile. "Well then could you kiss me like you mean it?" She asked him making him laugh. He closed in, time seemed to be slowing down as their heads slowly made it towards each other. "Fox!" Tricky called out from outside. "I knew that'd happen." Fox said "He's still here?" Krystal asked. "I'll handle it." Fox told her, he knew that they'd never be able to kiss while closing in that slowly, ever.

"Fox just give this to Krystal, trust me." Tricky said giving Fox something familiar. "Wow, will- will these work?" Fox asked now remembering they were the mushrooms given to Tricky's mother when she had been sick. "It should" Tricky told him before heading off, seeming busy. "Tricky!" Fox called out stopping him in his tracks. "Hm?" Tricky asked. "Have you found what I asked for?" Fox asked him, Krystal's ears perked up wanting to know what Fox would want from him. "I'm in the process of getting it Fox by the time you'll leave we'll get it to you." Tricky told him, Fox smiled and headed back in hoping to heal Krystal. Today.

"Krys, try to eat this." Fox said before giving her a plate of cut up rubbery food. "What is th-" Krystal stopped to eat. Fox burst out laughing when he saw her face as she ate it. "Uck. Gross!" She spat out giving him a glare. "Please eat it, it'll make you better I promise." She thought about it for a moment, actually considering if the taste was worth getting rid of her nasty illness. "Fine." She groaned "If this doesn't make me better though you're eating two of them." She told him, he accepted the deal.

Hours seemed to pass by, Krystal had conked out as soon as she finished her meal of three terrible tasting mushrooms and Fox was anxious to see if it had worked. "Krys?" He asked, getting a little impatient. "Five minutes.." She mumbled to him before shielding her eyes from the sun and scooting further away to avoid his disturbance. '_Wow for the first time she's actually moving away from me.' _Fox thought, she smiled and moved back into his arms. "Just let me sleep for a little bit longer." She told him before drifting off to sleep again. Fox laughed knowing that she had read his mind there and at this point he was used to it.

"Fox wake-up, Wake-up!" Krystal nudged him a little too hard making him groan. "Ow, what?" He asked seeing that she was overlooking him from behind. "You've been asleep." She told him with a quirky smile knowing that she had been too but now she was having a burst of energy. "So have you but that doesn't matter." He said in a smart way "What does matter is if that worked or not." He told her she only nodded "Yes it did." She told him and he noticed that she seemed to shake a little bit while saying it. "You hopped up on my energy drinks?" He asked seeing her shaking quite noticeably. "No but I think you fed me too many of those mushrooms." She said to him making him laugh. "Well what do you want to do?" He asked, her mind raced from the effect and the vast amount of options "Well Krystal seeing your condition I think we should play something like chess or just lay around for the rest of the night." He kidded her making her blush, she was a victim to this drug-like effect. "No but seriously I don't want to go too far from here just in case you crash or get sick again but we can go swimming if you'd like." He suggested baffling her. "It's almost nighttime though." She told him, she had no idea what could lurk in the waters here and definitely didn't want to find out by surprise at night. "We'll just go out for a bit and I'll be there to protect you." He told her making her smile. "I dunno.. I haven't swam in quite a long time." She told him "Yeah and I haven't seen you in a bathing suit in a long time either." He smiled at her. "Aren't you a flirt." She smirked back before getting her clothes out and looking back to give him a smile before heading into the bathroom to change.

"I could get used to this." Krystal said, going underwater to get her face wet as well. "Yeah I love not being sore or tired all the time." Fox said "And worrying about you." He let out afterwards despite his better judgement. "I'm not that bad to take care of. Just love me, feed me and I'll be happy." She told him. "You aren't describing how much work the loving part is." The vulpine joked before receiving a splash from an upset vixen. "I remember out there when you saved me an then I saved you." She told him pointing towards the Cloudrunner Fortress. "Yeah, thank you for that Krystal." He told her making her smile. "I would've been killed by General Scales if you hadn't come looking for me." She told him making him grin. "I guess it was destiny." He told her. "Yeah." She told him, memories forcing her to trail off from the real world. "So.." Fox said trying to spark conversation although he enjoyed holding her in the water, it was a sensation he wasn't yet accustomed to. "So.." She said in the same manor, her energy obviously drained, her body was almost limp in his arms. "You've done so much for me.. All I do is get into trouble." She told him making him shush her. "No Krystal you fuel me to continue, ever since I met you I've been crazy for you. My life completely changed when you joined Star Fox and I'm glad this all happened." He told her. "Yeah but I still get into too much trouble as a pilot." She told him, not happy about what she had gotten into in the past. "You got trapped here by Andross, you couldn't help that. You got targeted by the Anglar when you were distracted and I took the shot for you but you made up for it by killing their leader. I'll admit you might've had some problems adjusting to the new Arwing when we were fighting the Aparoids but you were just as good as Falco if not better." He told her knowing he had failed her slightly there by not teaching her on the newer Arwings when she first started out.

"I'm nowhere close to where you guys are honestly. I had to retire in the Cornerian mission against the Aparoids and I accidentally shot you down when we were dogfighting on different sides." She started to tell him but he stopped her. "Krystal, you're a great pilot. Especially from your backgrounds so stop worrying you'll be just fine." He told her this time keeping her quiet on that subject, for now. "Soon this will be our life, flying Arwings for fun not war." He told her making her happier slightly. "I do kinda like shooting stuff down though." She told him making him smile "I do too." He chuckled "I do too." Fox sighed before carrying his future bride to the shore. They both shivered as they hit the land, it seemed to be alot cooler all of a sudden. "I'm guessing we shouldn't stay out here long." He told her, drying both of them off. "We have all week." She smiled at him before standing up and stretching. She left for the hut and gave him the signal to follow, which he was already doing anyways.

"What kind of house are we going to have?" Krystal asked noticing the quite large hole that Fox had made earlier. "Better than this, like the ones on Corneria." He told her "It'll look kind of odd but whatever." She told him picturing the house Fox had shown her earlier, the house that he lived in as a kid. "It'll take a while to build but we can live in Corneria until then..And never leave home." He told her expecting fans to storm his lawn everyday and night. "I doubt they'll do that." She told him reading his mind. "We should be fine to leave but I don't know if I'd want to much." She told him truthfully, his company was better than any shopping experience or beauty salon in downtown Corneria. "I'm worried I won't be a good husband though." He told her truthfully "I've never really seen what a family is supposed to be like, I just know they love one another very much and that's about it." He told her feeling like he had talked to her about this before. "Yeah but I don't know what a family is like either, I just go with whatever feels natural. Right now this feels natural." She told him hugging him tight. "Plus I'm from a different system.. A primitive planet to be honest." She smiled goofily. "You seem so primitive.." He sighed knowing that she had to be one of the smartest people he knew. "I hope I can sleep." She told him getting in the bed next to him in a fresh pair of pajamas. "Well just lay here and you should..Jitterbug." He kidded with her after her earlier reactions. "Heh." She giggled slightly before shutting her eyes and hoping sleep would come to her but it didn't, too many things were on her mind and she was enjoying their conversation.

"Hey Fox.." She said hoping he'd respond and not be angry of the waking. "Yeah?" He asked, honestly he couldn't sleep either. "When we have kids what would you like to have?" She asked for the first time making his eyes shoot open. "Foxes hopefully." He joked making her slap him. "Ow, okay umm lemme think." He told her knowing now she was invading his mind. "A boy I guess." He said after thinking hard about it. "Want him to take over the business?" She asked him "I'm not sure honestly, if he doesn't want to he doesn't need to. I won't force it on him or anything." He told her, shocking her. "He'll be in an Arwing by four years old." She joked with a hint of seriousness. "Yeah possibly." He smiled. "You?" He asked wanting to hear her response. "A boy and a girl." She said making him sigh "I could live with that." He would actually be ecstatic with that but with his luck he didn't expect it. "Names?" She asked him "I think you're supposed to wait until you're pregnant to figure this stuff out so I'm not sure." He said thinking hard on what to name him. "Tricky." He joked making her laugh "I was thinking Mark or Marcus." She told him. "And if it's a girl I'm not sure either." She told him with many names in mind. "I wonder what color fur they'll have.." Krystal pondered aloud. "Blue and Orange make..Honestly a bad mix." She joked "It's a match made in hell." Fox joked making her giggle "Blue fur hopefully, just because I love it so much." He told her looking at her and making her blush "I like orange though." She told him. "Good thing we plan on two." He smiled back giving her a kiss, she relaxed in his arms and almost fell into a deep sleep. "Fox.." She murmured quietly "Yeah?" He asked her "Night, love you." She whispered with a smile knowing she had broken them away from sleep's grasp for another moment. "Love you too my blue angel." He smiled knowing she had to be blushing at that.

_-Author's note: Well I got this one down in two days as well, plan on ending their vacation with the next chapter, hopefully not many errors as usual and please take a moment to put in a vote on that poll, it decides which fic I write next. Don't have a FF account? write a review and tell me which ones you want after you see the selection or e-mail me ETC ETC. Hope people like this chapter as much as i have liked writing it.-_


	63. LXIII Week In Paradise

LXIII. Week In Paradise..And Meeting A New Ally.

"Fox, I love sleeping in with you." Krystal told him, causing him to wake. "I could've used a few more minutes" He said in a volume equal to a whisper. "You're so warm." He mumbled subconsciously, getting lost in her feel and scent like he did every single day. "Heh." She smiled to him, she wanted to get on with the day's activities but Fox wanted to lay around. "I can't get back to sleep." Fox told her a few minutes later knowing now that he had woken up completely. "Well then let's go back to that beach." Krystal said with a smile making him smile as well. "I'm content as long as i'm near you and I don't think I could ever say that enough." He old her, the fact that he just woke up not ruining how he sweet talked her. "I am too Fox, that's why last month was hell for me." She told him making that smile of his dim slightly. "Fox I love you and I don't care about that, it's all in the past." She told him making him smile. "I love you too." He said back. "It still doesn't mean I didn't majorly screw up." He told her even though he wasn't sure he wanted to bring it up. "Our lives are wonderful now Fox, I don't care." She told him forcing the bad memories out. "Alright, I'll let it go it just kills me inside to know I did something so stupid and reckless to someone I love so much." He told her making her smile slightly. "Come on let's go for a walk before we head back there, I think that beach will be pretty popular for the next few days anyways." Fox said grabbing her by the hand.

**-Two Days Later-**

"I can still see your scar." Krystal told him, lying down next to him in the sand in a bathing suit. "Which one?" He asked knowing he had quite a large collection of battle scars. "The one from when you saved me at Cloudrunner Fortress." She giggled pointing between his stomach and his chest "Yeah, that one is bigger than most." He replied with a smile. "And it's one of the few that were worth it." He went on to say making her smile as well. "I still see your scar." He told her pointing to almost the exact same place on her. "From Star Wolf.." He muttered grimly remembering _that_ was what eventually lead to them going separate ways. "It hasn't been that long." She told him, time seemed to be going by faster than it really was. "Yeah and before we know it we'll be at Slippy's wedding." She said from her thoughts. "Yeah that's very soon." He sighed where had all their time gone? When Fox thought about it saving Krystal here on Sauria the first and second time felt like it was just a little bit ago but it had actually been a long time. Now he was thinking about having a wedding? Retiring? Having kids?

Fox snapped out of his thoughts when Krystal's wrist communicator beeped repeatedly. "I'm tempted to toss it." She told him angrily. "I hear ya." He replied letting her take whatever call she had. "Fox..You had better take a look at this." Krystal told him in a grim way. "What?" He asked looking over to see something disturbing. "Panther? But how? Why?" Fox asked "He's persistent and a nuisance." Krystal explained, out of her stay at Star Wolf she would know that for sure. "So is alot of things.. Andross, Falco's snappy comebacks and of course like this _everything_ that has to do with Star Wolf." Fox joked making her laugh. Her wrist communicator starter beeping once more Fox looked down and saw Panther called yet again. "Well that does it, I've put up with these for too long." He said before chucking it into the ocean. "Fox!" Krystal jumped up and ran out for it. "It's waterproof!" Fox reminded her knowing that it had been tested for that thoroughly. He watched her try to swim down and find it for quite a bit before deciding to help.

Fox was welcomed with a few splashes as soon as he swam up to her. "I found it I just wanted to see how long it'd take for you to help." She smirked slyly at him. "You're such a jerk sometimes." She told him "Well I kill things for a living." He found an excuse. "I hate these things but I was never serious about throwing it. Slippy would have a fit." She told him. "I've been around them for fifteen years now and I'm glad I did that." Fox told her making her giggle. "Yeah I guess you have." "Fox do you hear that?" She alerted him, both their ears perked up trying to catch any bit of abnormal sound. "Thunder..Great.." Fox sighed grabbing Krystal and guiding her inland. "I guess it's inside for the rest of the night." Fox sighed before picking her up and kissing her, carrying her back to their temporary home. Just on cue Fox's wrist communicator went off when they entered the little hut. "Slippy, great." Fox said sarcastically knowing he wanted to check up on his friend deep inside.

"Hey Slip what's up?" Fox asked Slippy. "I was wondering if you and Krystal could come to Aquas Friday night for dinner." Fox looked over to Krystal for a response, she nodded to him giving him the okay. "Sure Slip. Where and what time?" He asked. "Hold on I'll send you the coordinates so you can find it and around seven." Slippy said to him. "Sure thing." Fox replied "Is it fancy or?" "Fanciest place on Aquas." Great, Fox knew that they would be hard pressed to get ready for that. "We'll be sure to get there, Falco will be there?" Fox asked. "Yeah I've made sure of that." Slippy told him before they said their goodbye's. "Aquas Friday at seven?" Krystal asked him, she was already in her clothes to relax in. "It'll be a close for this vacation I guess." Fox told her she only smirked. "Well we'll have a mission by then anyways with our luck." She told him pulling him to the bed to cuddle "Hold on I'm still in my trunks." Fox told her she only pouted at him.

The next day Fox woke up knowing this would be his last day on Sauria, tommorow night he had to meet Amanda and try to be on his best behavior. "Fox..What am I going to wear tommorow?" She asked him. "Like I know.." Fox said slightly baffled she asked. "I mean I have nothing really to wear publicly." She told him making him sigh. "So run to Corneria first to get you something to wear?" He asked, definitely not wanting to shop at all. "I'll go, you can go hang with Slippy and Falco." She told him kindly, Fox liked the idea somewhat but also disliked it. "What if you get mugged or worse." He told her thinking about it. "I can fight better than ninety percent of those scum now." She told him, obviously thinking alot about herself. "Even so, what if Panther shows up or they have weapons or.." "Fox I'll be fine, I wont be there but for thirty minutes." She shushed him making him agree to that plan. "Fine but I swear if something happens I'll go berserk on whoever messes with you." He told her making her turn to him "I know you will, you almost put the Sharpclaw tribe into extinction and that was before you even knew me." She smiled at him in her usual way making him smile as well, she had that effect on him still. "Well you were beautiful." He explained even though she knew what he thought of her. "And that staff wasn't an easy weapon so I wanted to get rid of it asap." Fox told her jokingly making her slap him playfully. "It's all I have of my life before Star Fox." She trailed off remembering when she got the staff. "I know and I feel like I've taken some of that over as well since you gave me another staff built from that." He told her she didn't even catch what he said from her daze in the memories. "I'm going to miss this place." She told him as soon as she got back into reality. "Me too but it's not for long." He told her knowing that their day to end this mercenary job was soon to come.

Fox sat next to Krystal later that night looking at the purple hue of the Saurian sunset knowing that this was the true ending to his vacation. "It doesn't seem any less beautiful no matter how many times you watch it." Krystal told him. "You or the sunset." He told her making her smile. "You do those things too much now." She laughed "I know but I can't help it." He told her "Do you want me to stop?" He asked "No." She told him, not even hiding that she liked it. "Good, I don't think I could." He sounded thankful. "The magical energy of this planet is insane." He said straight out of his mind. "Yeah it is, I don't know how it isn't more popular." She told him, she expected there to be tourists coming here yearly by now but it still was as tranquil as ever. "Enjoying your last couple nights?" Tricky asked making the furred couple jump. "Am I interrupting anything?" Tricky asked in a devious tone. "Yes." Fox said looking back and smiling. "Well sorry, I just wanted to check up and see if you two were still here." Tricky explained himself. "We are." Krystal said to the Earthwalker. "We'll be out tommorow Tricky." Fox told him which caused shock from Tricky. "Alright Fox so I guess this is goodbye for now." Tricky said, he'd offer a handshake if he had paws like Fox did. "Tricky we're going to live here in a few years." Krystal broke the news. "I knew you two would live here when you got married." Tricky responded. After Fox and Krystal told him goodbye Tricky was out of sight and Fox got to focus back on Krystal and vice versa.

The next day Krystal got up and started on her flight to Corneria while Fox flew to meet up with Falco and Slippy, He had forgotten to tell them that he'd be with them early and could barely find them in the massive city that he had no idea even existed. They just hung around and looked for whatever they could find on Aquas to occupy their time while Krystal got her dress for the night's occasion, Amanda was off too, doing her own thing. "You worried about Krystal being alone on Corneria that much?" Falco asked seeing that Fox had been talking to her for the past fifteen minutes. "Knowing my luck something will happen and Panther's got a hot head now so yes I am worried." Fox explained walking towards their next destination on the Aquas City tour they were on with Slippy as their guide. "Go date something that can take care of herself. That's what I did with Katt." Falco took a shot at Fox and the absent Krystal. "Whatever happened to Katt anyways?" Fox asked. "Long story short she's doing some dirty work on another system, we might get back together when she gets back but I can't keep her in one place." Falco explained. "Can't keep her near you for the sake of you." Fox muttered angering Falco slightly. "Stop it you two." Slippy joined in.

**-Later That Night-**

Fox helped Krystal out of her Arwing, glad to see she made it to Aquas in one peice and just in time too, it was now six thirty and they had just enough time to meet up with Slippy before going to eat. "How do I look?" She asked him who was too busy staring. "Umm..Nice." He said rubbing the back of his neck "I'm a little bit biased though." He told her making her giggle, she could stupefy him still today. "Come on let's go." She egged him on, he reluctantly went taking her hand and going towards wherever Slippy was supposed to be waiting. "I wonder what they even eat on this planet." Krystal said "I hope it isn't as bad as I expect." Fox told her.

"They're finally here!" Falco complained, he was now wearing a suit. "Wow." Amanda said seeing the vulpine and vixen. "I'm sure you have quite the stories to tell me of you and Slippy flying together." She told Fox making him slightly nervous, he didn't want to be talking about flying Arwings all night. "Also Fox we have something very important to talk about." She told him, Fox only smiled politely trying to figure out what next he would be doing.

Almost half an hour later the two were sitting, waiting for someone to come take their orders but it seemed they were all busy in the massive restaurant. "Ugh, this is taking forever." Krystal whispered to Fox, her stomach growling on cue. "I know." Fox whispered back "Fox I was curious if possibly Amanda could join our team like Krystal did." Slippy finally broke the news. making Amanda blush visibly, she was obviously still nervous on the subject and Slippy's directness didn't help. "Well does she even know how to fly?" Fox was interested to hear of her experience. "Not combat-wise." Slippy said blatantly. "But that doesn't matter because I'd rather just stay in and help little green here repair ships." She told them bringing a smirk from Falco and Fox "Little Green?" They both said trying not to laugh, Slippy's blush was showing up like bruises. "Yeah, when he was little he was given that nickname. You guy's didn't know that?" She asked, Fox and Falco were trying not to laugh as hard as they could but almost couldn't stop, this was grade A material to them. "I'm not surprised though, he hated it." She said before they decided to change the subject for Slippy's sake. "Yeah you can join us, we'll tell Peppy in the morning." Fox said, Star Fox once more was a team of 5 (Not including R.O.B.).

"So how did you two meet?" Amanda asked, still no waiter had arrived. "It's a long story." Fox told them "Well we've got time from what it seems." She said quickly, impressing Falco quite a bit. "Yeah I guess so." He mumbled. "I had a mission on the planet Sauria-" "Which is where you two just were?" She interrupted. "Erm, yeah that place. Anyways I came to help the planet for a paycheck and she was being used to bring one of my biggest enemies to life. I did tons of tasks over a week and finally rescued her." He said in short terms. "Meant to be." She muttered looking around for a waiter. "Finally." Slippy groaned seeing the waiter had come to them seemed to be hours later they chatted and tried out Aquas's food not knowing when their next mission would be and not really caring either. Fox just knew he was happy how life was now and didn't want any dramatic changes ever again.

_-Author's Note: Not my best chapter definitely i'm not too impressed but progression is progression and its leading up to that ending. Not much to say other than I hope there's not many errors and to my reviewer Tim, actually she IS supposed to be a Fox it says so in game manuals and even walkthroughs.. in fact when I looked it up it even confirmed my thoughts (unless I looked at the wrong place). The deal was Krystal was going to end up being a cat for the regular Rare game and then Nintendo bought it out to make adventures and made Krystal a fox just for the whole damsel in distress ordeal which really put a great turn on the thought to be dead series. I hope I'm not wrong though because I'd have to do a ton of editing to fix all of that though considering I've made her a Fox instead of a cat the whole story and I just don't have all that editing in me right now so no matter what she's a dang fox here lol..Hopefully I don't seem like a total jerk here because I don't want to but who knows how your trying to say it with typing.. And hopefully my next chapter will be out soon and I know this is a weird time for me to release a chapter (omg 3 PM what am I doing?) Anyhow later guys thanks for everything!_


	64. LXIV Back to Work

LXIV Back to Work

"Have fun Slippy." Fox told the toad as he entered a limo with Amanda. The limo read "Just Married" On the back to show the world. "You too Fox. Good luck on whatever missions you guys have for the next two weeks!" Slippy replied with a smile on his face. Slippy and Amanda's faces were concealed by the dark tinted windows before the Limo drove off. "I can't believe the frog beat you to it Fox." Falco joked at him. "Heh..He wouldn't have if I hadn't of been an idiot." Fox responded looking over to Krystal who was busy maintaining order against a large amount of reporters. "What's new?" Falco asked referring to Fox calling himself an idiot. "Whatever..I'll still beat you to it." He smirked but Falco didn't care. "Marriage is the least of my desires Foxie...It's barely above kids." Falco told him truthfully. "Whatever makes you happy." Fox responded before deciding to give Krystal a helping hand.

"Was it anything you expected?" Krystal asked Fox when they entered their luxurious hotel room. "Yeah pretty much, I'm glad it's over though honestly." He told her "You know while they're gone on their two week honeymoon we could go on vacation ourselves.." Krystal suggested bringing a smile to the fox's face as well as perking his ears up showing her he heard something he liked. Suddenly the happiness was dropped from his face, he remembered he had already accepted a short mission to take off in two days. "Negative on that Krystal." He told her dreadfully. "I've already accepted a recon mission from Peppy in Sector Z." He told her bring a frown. "Just you or all of us?" She asked. "Just me." He answered making that frown even worse. "Can I still tag along?" She asked almost childlike. "Umm..Sure I guess so." He said, what would it hurt? It was only going to be a short recon mission that probably wouldn't include any combat.

"Think about it, one day that will be us." Krystal said to Fox looking over the pictures in each of the cameras she had taken up for memories of this day. "I can't wait." He replied but his mind was dead-set on the mission ahead. Peppy wouldn't normally leave a pesky recon mission for Star Fox, he'd give it to a part of the Cornerian Army or maybe even a lower group of mercenaries. "Fox, I can't wait either." She told him, the first thing popping into her mind was long after their wedding and into their retirement; she wanted to be a mother and Fox knew it. "I'll make sure we make it a great one." He told her knowing that they had a hefty amount of cash after the Anglar war added with very little left from the Aparoid war. "I just want something simple and don't want any media getting involved." She sighed remembering how their first trip to Corneria was, and their second.

"I can see why you hate this planet." Krystal told him the next day while they were eating at a restaurant. "I'd expect you to find beauty in it honestly." He replied wanting to hear why she hated it. "It's so dark around this city." She told him, of course the city was trapped in a giant glass dome on the bottom of the sea. "Yeah but there isn't _much_ land here." Fox told her even though she had seen that from her Arwing when they flew in. "I think we should plan it between our birthdays." Krystal told him making Fox confused as all get out. "The wedding that is." She sensed his confusion and couldn't help but smile. "It's up to you Krystal." He told her once more "How much longer are we going to keep this up?" Fox asked her. "I'm starting to think you don't like doing this crap much anymore." She told him. "It's not that I dislike it..I-it's more like I just want to be with you more and more each day for some reason..Maybe it's a phase i'm going through but I just feel so.." Fox trailed off thinking of a word to say. "In love." Krystal told him with a smile, her words made him smile. "Yeah I think so. I don't want to seem clingy but ever since I lost you I noticed how big of a role you played in my life." He told her truthfully, she liked when he opened up to her like this and the vulpine couldn't disagree (Although he would if Falco were here to witness).

"Well we're going to be on this next mission together and all the others so we won't leave each others side." She assured him. "Yeah I think every mission that I used to do by myself I'll bring you." He told her not really thinking about putting her in danger anymore, she had proven herself against the Anglar Emperor and he knew that if she had grown up with him and started out when he did she'd probably be the best pilot the Lylat System had seen. "I really hope we don't end up bitter." She told him reminding him of the previous night. "We won't I promise." He assured her with a look that made her feel like everything would be alright.

"You're the only family I have and I don't want to lose this." She whispered barely even eating now, they hadn't even remembered they were in public nor did they care. "You two gonna stare at each other like that all day?" Falco said seeing the two were staring goofily at each other. "Falco..How? Where? Wha?" Fox stuttered "I saw you guys through the window and was bored so I figured I'd ruin your day." Falco explained himself. "I thought you two were going to start making out right here." He went on to say making the vulpine blush slightly like he did when they just started dating. "Well let's get back to the hotel and finish this Krys." Fox said putting cash on the table that was well past what they owed. "Hurry to your room." Falco joked at the two.

"I can't believe he just ruins so many moments." She said getting into something more comfortable and hoping not to leave the hotel today. "He had his radar on to find me probably." Fox said before grabbing Krystal and pulling her off her feet. "Fox!" She cried out but it had no effect. Fox placed her on the bed and pounced on-top of her kissing her like never before. "Now where were we in the restaurant?" He asked her a new flow of passion going through him. "Let me jog your memory." She giggled to him.

"Fox pick up dangit." Peppy sighed his wrist communicator seeming to be off. "Hey Peppy, Sorry." Fox said answering, the vulpine was still sound asleep when he called. "Missions changed majorly Fox. One of our merchant ships haven't responded and we fear they've been hijacked." Fox rolled his eyes. "Great.. Give me the coordinates and I'll check it out." He told Peppy before getting most of the details. "If it's been hijacked don't expect an easy landing Fox, I'm counting on you." Peppy said in a stern tone. "Krystal and I will get this done." Fox assured him with a yawn "Well get up and get going time is of the essence." Peppy ordered the Fox making his ears go back, he wasn't ready to wake up nor was he ready to wake the vixen. "Alright, I'll get right on it." Fox sighed before closing their call. "Please forgive me." He muttered before shaking his girlfriend awake. "Mission come on." He whispered, she only moaned at him "You take a shower first and then I will..wake me up when you're done." She told him before curling back into a ball to sleep. Fox sighed at her before doing as she said.

"There it is.." Krystal said, her eyes sealed shut focusing on what her telepathy told her. "Really? Looks like it's been destroyed.." Fox told her seeing part of it was actually ripped off, there was a giant hole in the hull of the ship maybe that was where the hijackers entered from. "I'm sensing negative thoughts Fox I'm sure this is it." He trusted her sixth sense and flew in looking for an entrance. "Nothing..Nothing.." Fox muttered to himself "Could an Arwing fit through that?" Krystal asked referring to the hull in the ship. "Possibly..I'll try it first." He told her but he was going to check for any other alternative first. "Guess it's the only way.." Fox sighed before flying close to their only entrance. "Krystal if I die here don't let the papers know how." Fox joked trying to lighten the situation before giving it a go. He heard a loud grinding, screeching sound that almost made his ears pop when he entered. "It's tight but it'll do." He told her shutting off his Arwing and seeing if Krystal had any room without him leaving his cockpit. "You should be good but also I didn't think out the whole gravity thing." He told her with a smile that she couldn't see.

Fox saw a door above him, if he could only reach it before he ran out of air. "Hold on let me test this." He told her before unbuckling and opening his canopy. "Come on.." Fox grunted reaching for the door's control panel, he held on with his claws digging into the metal making it painful to hang on. "Got it!" Fox exclaimed before opening the door, Krystal cheered silently before going in for her turn. "Tell me when you're at the door and I'll open it for you." He told her she did as he told. Finally the two were in, the room was pitch black though and they couldn't see a thing.

"Fox I'm scared." She whispered honestly. "Just use your flashlight on our blasters." He told her, she had never used that before. "This one." He smirked before doing it for her. "Ah I can see now." She said quietly trying to keep their stealth factor alive. "Shh.." Fox said silently hearing metal clanking from above, they weren't alone. The lights flickered adding that eerie feeling to them. "They aren't from Lylat.." Krystal whispered seeing one above on the catwalks. They were reptiles, and resembled the Sharpclaw tribe almost but their coloring was different. Instead of the generic green color they were yellow. "Ew.." She commented seeing a smile coming off of them. "They're disgusting." She said in a whisper knowing they couldn't hear them from their helmets (They were only talking from microphones).

"Just keep cool and we'll sneak up on them.. I'll take care of the dirty work." He told her with a smile. "These space trash won't stand a chance." He said cockily. "Two up ahead." Krystal warned noticing thought patterns unlike any other. "I'll get 'em." He said grabbing his knife from his boot. "Cover my six." He told her she nodded silently expecting to hear one of the reptilian creatures screeching in pain soon.

Fox snuck up behind the odd creature checking what belongings he had to make sure he wasn't some weird Cornerian pilot. He saw on a nametag that he wasn't even from the Lylat System, just as he assumed, the reptile's friend walked off giving Fox the perfect opportunity and Fox decided to strike. Fox kept quiet before grabbing the slimy creature and covering it's mouth Krystal winced as she felt some of the pain and heard a muffled cry as well as seeing some of this creature's last thoughts. It didn't feel right for both of them, they had no idea who these people were but knew they had killed innocent people or were still holding them hostage still it didn't help them keep going on this mission. Fox looked down seeing his jacket with slime on it and gagged. "You were right..These things _are _disgusting." She sighed "Fox.." She muttered trying to snap those thoughts out of her head. Like she had said long ago killing in an Arwing was much easier than killing hand to hand. "Come on Krystal, you're a mercenary you aren't supposed to do this." She told herself without thinking, Fox turned to her "I know what you mean Krystal maybe I am getting too soft but this just feels odd." He said before continuing on through the dark rooms searching for where the dead guard's friend went.

They came to a fork in their path, a crossroad that told them they'd need to split up to save time. "You take the left I'll go right." Fox told her seeing as one side was pitch black and the other was slightly visible, the pitch black side would obviously be his. "Good luck." She whispered before kissing him on the cheek as a goodbye. "You too.. Call for me if you need me and I'll run as fast as I can." He told her cherishing that last moment that spend together for what the assumed would be atleast an hour.

Fox sighed, the day was dragging on and these hallways seemed to last forever and the ship was just barely bigger than the Great Fox used in the Aparoid war. "Krystal you okay?" Fox asked "Yeah I see a door at the end of this hall so i'm gonna try and get in." She told him. He was having flashbacks of the Saurian caves by this ship, so dark and that fear for her safety floating in the back of his mind yet he pushed on. "It's locked." She alerted him. "Check for a keypad and use Slippy's decryptor." Fox told her making her remember the quite useful device. "One..Seven..Five..Nine!" She said to herself before opening the door. Smoke filled the next room and she couldn't see a thing.

"I can't see a thing I think there's something wrong with this ship." Krystal coughed at him Fox was ambushed by a couple of their guards and couldn't respond all she could hear were signs of a struggle. One that Fox was winning. "Alright.. Got that." Fox said to her not really knowing what she said earlier.

"Fox I don't think anything's here.." Krystal sighed "I'm coming to you. Just after-AAA!" She cried out "Fox!" She screamed this time before feeling something shooting into her "Krystal!" Fox yelled out trying to get her to respond but she didn't answer, Krystal could feel the world slipping from her everything was fading to black. "Fox.." She moaned subconsciously whatever had a hold of her was much stronger than anything she had been grabbed, even General Scales or Fox. Krystal could hear a yell in a foreign tongue before hearing a familiar voice. "Krystal I'm on my way. I'll save you I swear." Fox told her. She didn't understand a word he said but she was comforted hearing that same familiar voice before passing out not knowing if she'd ever wake up again.

Fox was set ablaze with rage that these ugly creatures had captured the one thing that mattered most to him it's like they knew when she wasn't protected by him or when her guard was down. He heard more creatures speaking near her from her communications line and knew he didn't have any time to reflect on thoughts now he had to go save her before it was too late.

_-Author's Note: Back to work and this is going to be the last major conflict of this story too (These enemies) I will spoil that here. Fox has to rescue Krystal once more, or does he? Find out in the next chapter. I try to make it visible to the readers that this lifestyle is not fitting Fox and Krystal much more and that leads to a hopefully retirement if they can make it past these missions. Thanks for the reviews and for confirming my thoughts on Krystal's REAL species. Also thanks for the PMS as well guys keep it up I love to hear the feedback.-_


	65. LXV Liberating The Ship

LXV Liberating The Ship.

Krystal blinked her eyes open, not able to see much from the darkness of the vicinity. Her knees were dragging on the metal floor, thankfully she had kneepads on to keep the discomfort away. One of the creatures dragging her growled in a native tongue that Krystal would have to try and decode with her telepathy. She could hardly keep her eyes open whatever they had done to her was powerful and she had no idea how long she had been out for.

One of the Sharpclaw-like creatures turned hearing an loud groan from the vixen's throat, he turned and hit her with the end of his blaster making her taste blood. "Fox.." She pleaded for help and heard another comforting voice coming from her helmet or maybe she was going crazy.

Krystal opened her eyes once more minutes later to see she was in a room filled with enemies and also some more hostages they were keeping, obviously they were hoping to make quite a profit from this scheme. "Is that.." She heard gasps from the friendlies in the room, she could only manage to look over at them and nod miserably. She was relieved to see they never turned off any of her equipment so they had led Fox straight to them and soon they would pay. The creatures' conversation started and it took her less than a minute to get in all of their heads and find out what was being said in the conversation. "She's not alone." One of them snarled seeming to be the leader judging on his appearance. "She called out for someone named Fox.." One muttered. "I figured, unlike you I do my homework. Apparently there's some big hero here by the name of Fox McCloud and I think we found his girl." The leader said seeming somewhat like Wolf, maybe all evil leaders had the same traits.

"No I'm alone!" She yelled out but they couldn't understand only turned and smacked her once more trying to teach her who was dominant in this situation but she would have the upperhand soon. Krystal groaned trying to fight their grip. "She's putting up quite a struggle for a Cerinian." One of them taunted her but how did they know where she was from. "She'd need to. It's not easy being the last of your kind.." One of them gave a toothy grin. "I want to kill this one but if she tries to get away kill her on sight." The leader told them making her gulp. This wasn't what she imagined this mission would be like. "Stop moving!" The one keeping her held down barked at her. She refused to give up her fight hoping not to make them feel any more powerful.

"Put her with the others, if she moves kill her but if she stays she's mine." The leader told them. They tied her up to a post by her arms and ankles making her feel helpless and weak for a mercenary. "Are you the only one?" Someone asked from the other side of the post. "No.." She whispered. "Fox is here and he'll save us." She was trying to convince herself more than him. "Good..I have a wife and kids at home." He informed her. She could hear yelling from the hallway, Fox was close and obviously was afire with rage on these poor creatures. More of the lizards left the room with their hostages and left to find Fox giving Krystal the perfect opportunity to take advantage of the terrible knot they had tied in her constraints.

Within a moment Krystal was free and grabbed her blaster (Which was thankfully concealed). She didn't hesitate or mind killing at this point she just aimed and fired. One of the guards fell to the ground bringing much more attention followed by blaster fire. "Get down." Krystal ordered the civilians but they were tied up and could only watch. She aimed and fired before repeating several times. One down, Two down, Three down, Four down. She had just given up on aiming all together, now she was firing from the hip at them.

Fox entered the room seeing massive laser fire knowing that Krystal had her paws full. "Krystal?" Fox yelled out to find her. Krystal noticed something in her neck like before and fell to the ground, her body convulsing wildly. Fox knew she had been stunned by a long range taser of some sort. "You'll pay for that." He growled straight from his throat getting their attention just as he had hoped. He pulled out a heavier weapon- a machine gun and sprayed bullets around wildly not caring what he killed as long as it wasn't a hostage. The bodies piled up before Fox could get to Krystal and aid her situation. "Krystal opened her eyes slightly to see the usual orangish golden fur she was used to. "Fox.." She said weakly. "You saved me again." She smiled, he smiled back "I shouldn't have left your side so I made sure i'd make up for it." He smirked "I need to help out these other people other than stare at you all day, I'll be right back beautiful." He whispered to her comforting her into a sleep from the pure power of the stun. He lifted her head up and placed his vest under her head leaving him only in his undershirt.

"Thank you mr. McCloud." The citizens said one by one the same line almost when Fox walked through the rooms, he quickly looked at the security cameras to check the rest of the ship and was pleased to see that the hangar was now open and whatever survived his vicious attack had retreated out to whatever base they had. Fox released the crew before going back to Krystal's side, seeing she was still out cold. "She'll be fine, they had to use one of those on me to capture me. Just let her rest." A female voice told him from behind putting an arm on his shoulder. "We've got beds down the hall if you think she needs it." Somebody suggested. "I think that'd be very good." Fox said while occupied by monitoring Krystal's heartbeat to make sure she hadn't gotten any bad side effects.

"Fox?" Krystal asked almost an hour later. He had not left her side. "I'm here." He replied "Are we back home?" She asked seeing she was in a quite comfortable bed. "Not yet, I wanted to make sure you were one hundred percent." He told her, that was so like him. "Come on let's get back to the Great Fox." She said to him "If you're not up to the flight just auto follow me." He told her she nodded but she would need to take off first because of their tight situation. They were thankful another mission had been completed but how did they know she was Cerinian and why would they attack these ships?

_-Author's Note: Short chapter finishing up the last one. I know people like em long and so do I..I wouldn't have released this chapter if I wasn't getting a new computer tommorow meaning all my data on this story will be wiped from my personal computer. Hope you enjoy and thanks for the views..Later (New cpu I can't wait :P)-_


	66. LXVI Another Fortuna Business Trip

LXVI. Another Fortuna Business Trip.

Krystal jerked upright in the bed, sweat falling from her forehead from her terrifying dreams. "Krystal you okay?" Fox asked feeling what seemed to be a hundred degree heater next to him. "I need a minute." She told him trying to calm herself down, this had been happening ever since their mission in Sector Z (Two and a half weeks ago.) Maybe she was overworked from all the mission Peppy had been giving them with those lizards or possibly it was a warning, only time would tell. "I'm gonna go for a short walk." She patted his head messing up his fur even more. "Alright, want me to come with you to talk or..?" Fox offered "No I'm fine." She told him before silently going through the hallway. Fox still didn't sleep and awaited her return.

"Odd." She muttered to herself looking through a large window. Smoke was emitting from something out in distant space. She suspected a week of sleep deprivation was the cause. She yawned and decided to head back for bed before she passed out on the floor trying to decide what she was seeing was.

"Fox, Fox! Come quick!" Slippy awoke them both early in the morning. "Aughh.. What's up?" Fox yawned back only to see the frog pulling out a picture from last night's recording. "See look at that there's a ship on our radar but outside nothing was in sight." Slippy explained to him. Fox sighed expecting what he had to say to be important. "Actually last night I think I saw something." Krystal said sleepily. They both turned to hear what she had to say. "I went to the window and saw smoke coming from something, maybe they were cloaked ships." She told them "Why didn't you use your telepathy like you normally do?" Falco added in sticking his head through the door. "I was tired." She whined. "Just leave it at that Falco." Fox said seeing the bird about to say something. "I'll check inside cameras." Slippy told them before leaving the two alone. "I sense a mission coming." He sighed before draping his arm back over Krystal hoping to get back to sleep. "I thought I was the telepath here." She muttered before curling back into his embrace.

"So Slippy you find out what was on radar this morning?" Fox asked "Somewhat, the ship went down to Fortuna." Slippy told him, luckily there ship was right above Fortuna so they could track the ship to it on radar. "Well Corneria doesn't have stealthed cargo ships and there's no use for fighters on Fortuna..Yet..So I'll go check it out tonight with Krystal and scout out what they're hiding." Fox offered knowing they were both already beaten up. "Alright just don't get killed, we need both of you against these monsters." Slippy told him and Amanda nodded, Fox smiled at the appreciation before going back to Krystal who was still sound asleep.

Fox was gearing up for their mission, it was now eight in the evening and it was getting dark on Fortuna. "Krystal you gonna get up today?" He asked looking over and seeing the seemingly dead vixen on the bed, she only twitched her ear and moaned to him. He couldn't understand what she wanted to tell him. "I'm tired." She said to him again, he understood what she was going through somewhat but also knew they had a mission tonight and she couldn't be asleep on the job. Fox grabbed a silenced sniper rifle and his binoculars, he was now ready for their mission if Krystal would get up and ready. An hour later Krystal was ready and got into her Arwing with Fox ready for their mission ahead and whatever it would put in their way.

Two Arwings landed in a small field as silently as they could, Krystal in one and Fox in the other. "It's only 7 Celsius out there." Krystal alerted him. "Winds bad too." Fox added before opening his canopy and feeling the cool air rush in. "Brr." Fox said, warning her of the extreme difference in temperature. "Let's just hurry and get this done with." Krystal told him, he nodded and grabbed her by the hand, dragging her to where he suspected a base to be. "I sense something." Krystal told him before grasping his hand to get him to stop. Her eyes were closed tight, Fox knew she was focusing hard on whatever was ahead and looked for a good area to get a better look.

Fox went prone on a small hill, peaking his head up slightly to look ahead for where the enemies might be. Krystal decided to follow and laid down slightly behind him, her head right next to his knee on his right side. "See anything?" Krystal asked silently. Fox whispered for her to wait and pulled his binoculars out. "Small camp..Maybe twenty total.. Enemy." Fox said seeing the creatures were the same from the ship in Sector Z. "Two snipers." Krystal warned him "No..Three.." She muttered "Well maybe two I can't tell." She told him her fatigue affecting her performance on missions. "I see one tell me when the others are distracted." Fox commanded, she nodded hoping that she wouldn't mess up now.

"Now!" Krystal told him. As soon as she said that she hear a quiet click coming from the suppressed rifle and feeling a kill from the other side. A dead body fell from the guard's tower down into a bush hiding the body for Fox instantly. "One or two more Krys?" Fox asked "I'm not sure, one in the other tower and maybe one near the cave over there." Krystal said pointing to a dark cave which would be perfect for outside cover. "Nothing at the cave visible.." Fox sighed before backing his head out of sight. "I'll get the one on that tower but please warn me if there's another." Fox said as sweet as he could while keeping a leading tone. "Fox!" She yelled out pulling him by his leg down just in time for the laser to miss. He was shocked and sat there thankful that Krystal had been on her guard. Krystal however wasn't happy, she had almost killed him in her mind and that would be something she couldn't forgive herself for.

Fox sat there staring at Krystal, he was so thankful at this moment and her looks made him lose his mind. "Thank you so much." He said quietly. "I'm sorry." She whispered back feeling bad for missing that one so badly. "Don't be sorry." He said putting his paw under her chin. "I love you and thank you for saving my life." He told her lovingly making her smile and feel warm all over. Fox snapped right back into his mission state of mind grabbing the rifle and taking out what was going to be his next target, now he needed to find the other sniper; the one who almost killed him.

Fox saw a glimpse of light coming from the cave. "What was that?" She asked him obviously it caught Krystal's eye as soon as she peaked over the hill. "The moon reflecting from his scope, gimme a sec." Fox pushed her down the hill further to avoid her getting shot. The same click noise was made as before and the two peaked over the hill once more to see if the few in the camp noticed. "There can't be more than fifteen in there." Fox told her remarking on it's size. "There's less now. I'm not sensing anything big either." She told him. Fox grabbed his blaster and looked for the safest route into the camp.

Fox took cover behind a rock only a few inches from the entrance to the camp, Krystal followed him silently. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just snipe them?" Krystal whispered he shook his head to show 'No' before putting his finger over his mouth to silence her. Fox turned from the rock saw an enemy and blasted it, a task that he was now used to. Krystal couldn't get focused on her abilities to see how many was still alive. "Fox, I can't tell who's left." She panicked, Fox sighed but he knew that he had made it without her before on these types of missions. "It's fine just help me." Fox said trying to get the enemies attention. "I can't move, Krystal try to get behind them." Fox yelled out, four of them firing on his position keeping him suppressed. "Alright, cover me." She told him before running for a flank.

Fox raised his blaster over his cover and shot as many times as he could in his opponents general direction. "Fox!" Krystal yelled for him, he expected the worst. "You okay?" He asked. "Yeah i'm fine just cover me for another moment." She alerted him, he nodded and shot some more. Krystal successfully got behind the enemies and took out three of them before being noticed by two more near a chain link fence. "Fox!" She tried to alert him but he already knew, with two blasts they too fell to the ground. She was sweating bullets there, if Fox hadn't have shot them they had a clear shot at her. "I think we're done here." She sighed slumping down on the fence. "Yeah, I think that's it." He sat down next to her grasping her paw. "You okay?" He asked seeing she was slightly shaking. "Yeah..Was scared there at the last part honestly." She admitted, she normally never told Fox her fears on the battlefield but recently she had let it spill out for some reason.

"It's fine." He told her feeling the shaking dim down. "I'll always protect you no matter what it takes." He assured her although he proved it many times before. "I know, thanks." She told him looking him in the eye now. "Uh oh." Krystal said hearing a rumble in the distance, it sounded like aircraft coming their way. "Fox we better get outta here." She told him but he refused. "Krystal we need to check this camp for any info on where these groups are coming from." Fox told her "But..." She protested knowing that an enemy air attack would wipe them out easily. "Falco we need backup here." Fox called in. "Alright i'll be right down." Falco replied over his wrist communicator. "See problem solved." He told Krystal now seeing ships overhead that didn't seem to belong to anything from Lylat unless it was custom built. They were much older than any Wolfen and way worse than an Arwing. "Well good thing I called Falco." Fox muttered seeing that they went clean past them.

An Arwing flew by them way too low almost flying into the fence, obviously it was Falco. "Need some help?" Falco asked "Yeah they flew north check it out for us." Fox said bending over to look through a box for any details to send back to Slippy's father or Slippy himself. "Found a booklet." Krystal said but she was disappointed to see it was written in that strange language, even she didn't learn their language fast enough. "Slippy can translate it." Fox said seeing she was concentrating, trying to find out what it said. "Those fighters looked terrible, I hope it was the enemy because this will be easy." Krystal commented checking the next body. "You said it." Fox replied his attention was focused on the box he was going through, it had maps galore of planets he had never seen or heard of. "Wow..Krystal you might want this." Fox said handing her a large parchment. "Cerinia?" She gasped seeing that it was a small map of Cerinia, this had to be atleast twenty years old. "That's how they knew." She sighed "They knew you were Cerinian?" Fox asked. He wished she had told him earlier so he could check that system for this race of reptiles. "Yeah..But I guess blue isn't a common color either." She commented knowing she messed up by not telling Fox that. Actually that was one of the things bothering her the past few days.

"Got 'em Fox, easiest things I ever fought." Falco alerted him, obviously he was going back to base for bed. "Let's just take this and go." Fox told her knowing they had plenty of items. She nodded at him and headed for her Arwing. Slippy would have alot of stuff to examine for the weekend.

_-Author's Note: I know it's been a while since my last chapter thats why I RUSHED this one out..Got my computer and it didnt work sent it back to tech support...just my luck..That killed the writing mood for me and I've been busy hope you enjoy thanks for the reviews hits and poll votes. Seriously you guys keep me at it and keep me checking my email every hour lol.-_


	67. LXVII Countdown

LXVII. Countdown

"Happy birthday Fox.." Krystal muttered under her breath whilst talking to their wedding planner, a female cat of Fox's fur color. "Thanks. I'm having a blast." He whispered back signing a couple of papers. He was kidding though this was pretty boring even for the result they would get in the long run. "Well that's all I need, thanks for your cooperation." The planner told them before they left. "See all done." She said to him, Fox thanked god. "I thought we'd never be done in there." Fox muttered walking Krystal to their Arwings. "It'll be well worth it soon." She smirked at him, they had just gotten almost everything planned out for their wedding. "Just a week and we'll be sharing a last name." He told her making her smile. "I thought I already did." She joked at him. "Well legally this time." He muttered. "Is my last name on your pilot's license?" He asked knowing it was not, she shook her head. "Thought so..Soon it will be though." He made her smile at him "How'd the deal go with Falco and Slippy last night?" She asked him knowing that Fox had to resign them both for a year atleast. "Didn't finish it last night, we'll get to it tonight." He said grimly, money wasn't his strong point in conversations.

Fox's wrist trumpeted the regular tune telling him someone was calling. "It's Slippy, hold up." He told Krystal who stopped to hear the conversation. "Hey Fox I finally figured out the origin of these documents." Slippy said skipping to the point of the call instantly. "That's great, now we can end this and stop having to do small jobs." Fox smiled. "Or we could just keep doing small jobs for money." Fox heard Falco mutter in the background. "It's from a primitive planet in an unnamed system. We know very little about them but these maps prove where their from." Slippy was happy to find the mastermind's location.

"What's the planet's name?" Fox asked him. "I don't know if i'm pronouncing it right but Azerbaid is apparently it's name." Slippy answered Fox tilted his head, one he hadn't hear of. "It's located near Cerinia?" Krystal asked, Fox figured she'd know. "I don't have a clue where Cerinia is hold on.." Slippy said, apparently he'd never been curious of her homeworld. "No not from what I'm seeing, in fact it's a long way away." Slippy answered leaving Krystal still confused on how they knew her origin. "Thanks Slippy, we'll be on the ship in a minute." Fox told him "Alright see you there." Slippy said cheerfully before ending their call. "Alright let's get this over with before we get married so we can enjoy our honeymoon." Fox told her, she agreed. "Come on let's go." She told him seeing he was the one not in a ship for once.

"Good luck talking with them." Krystal told Fox before he walked into the room. "It won't be hard it's not like they're refusing." Fox responded, they were talking about renewing Slippy and Falco's contracts for another year. "Scared of them leaving?" She asked him. "No, just so they can get discounts on gear and everything." Fox informed her before heading off into the room, Krystal went and looked on Corneria for dresses for their wedding.

-Two Days Later-

The Starfox team was getting ready for another mission, this one hopefully the last one against this enemy. "Slippy why do you have half of the hangar closed off?" Fox asked noticing something had been blocked off from view. "I'm working on one of the Arwings and Falco kept pestering me." Slippy responded, Fox could understand that. "I haven't been doing that much to him.." Falco said innocently. "Whatever let's just get this done with, all of our ships ready?" Fox asked. He always asked that before a mission ever since the last battle with the Anglar. "Yep" "All set." "Good to go." The three said in order from Slippy to Krystal to Falco. "Let's get this over with, we've got a long flight ahead." Fox told them "Thank god for autopilot." Falco chirped before R.O.B. released the lift lock so they could launch. "Just be alert, we don't know what we'll be going through to get to that planet." Fox ordered bringing a groan of protest from everyone, including the one most loyal to him.

"How much further?" Krystal asked Fox hours later, Falco had drifted off to sleep. "Not much further for you guys..Uhh..Nevermind I read wrong, Slippy's got way too many waypoints on this you guys are about halfway." Amanda told them from onboard The Great Fox. "We should've just brought the whole ship with us." Krystal sighed. "Well that would've taken weeks without a warp in the general area of that planet." Fox explained even though she knew. "I hate this job but I also love it." She sighed. "I know..If you wanted to quit though we had the opportunity." "I know Fox.." She sighed "Regrets?" He asked her "No." She said blandly before changing their conversation. "I hate to say it Krystal but it's times like these I enjoy most about flying." He told her. "When we're alone and just chatting while flying across space." He rambled on. "I enjoy it too but I'm nervous Falco or Slippy will wake." She muttered not too proudly. "And hear what? You say that you love me or something? We should be over that by now." He told her trying to get her to open up. "Well aren't you bold all of a sudden." She giggled to him, she mainly stayed quiet knowing how he got when Falco made fun of them.

"Well what to cover first then?" She asked him "Well..We've got a week or so until we finally tie the knot." He said to her "Yeah, I can't wait." She replied not sounding as excited as she'd like. "I'd offer to have the wedding on your homeplanet if it wasn't.." Fox cut himself off "Smooth.." He muttered under his breath. Her reaction wasn't anything like he had expected; She actually giggled instead of getting depressed. "I'm really sorry, I was just trying to start conver-" "It's okay Fox, your thoughts were actually kind of funny." She told him. "You'd think after five years I'd learn how to talk to you." He told her jokingly. "You do fine..Most of the time." She emphasized 'Most' there. "Falco?" Fox asked making sure if he was awake. "Well I guess it's safe to say this now but Katt called me wanting to check up on him this morning." He stated, Krystal gasped knowing their story. "You think they will?" "Get married? No, not Falco. Date probably." Fox told her knowing that Falco wasn't one for marriage and children. "Well that's good enough for them." She said with a smirk. "She wants to surprise him." Fox explained. "Great, so in a week she'll be here?" Krystal asked not so happily. "She won't bug you, she'll help more than likely." Fox told her but Krystal remembered their last meeting, Falco and her seemed to be at each other's throats every time she turned her head. "I hope." She sighed.

"It's already three in the morning?" Krystal asked him. "Well that's the time where the Great Fox is but yes it is." Fox answered. "Too bad we can't share an Arwing." She sighed trying to lay back in her uncomfortable seat. "Hey atleast we have room in these, the first Arwings were crazy tight." Fox told her remembering how uncomfortable he was during the Lylat War with Andross. "Yeah I guess but nothing beats your arms." She sighed bringing a snicker from one of the two that were asleep. "Just for two nights max." He told her "You've done it before." He went onto say making her laugh. "I don't know if I want to sleep right now or not." She told him, her vision was blurry. "Just go on, I won't mind." He assured her. "Alright then if you don't mind." She said rolling over in her seat almost getting into the fetal position. "Night, love you." She told him as usual. "Love you too, sleep well." He said to her somehow draining that last will of staying up for both of them.

"So Fox, happy she's back?" Slippy asked him, apparently he had been the one awake. "She's been back for a couple months now but yes, I couldn't be happier." He answered. "That's good, you two were made for each other." Slippy said "Kind of like Amanda was for me." An audible 'Aww' could be heard from The Great Fox's line. "I am tired though, Slippy keep a look out for any unknown asteroid belts or anything like that." Fox told him "Alrighty." Slippy answered gleefully. "you're almost there just a couple more hours." Amanda told them.

"Fox, Krystal. Wake-up already!" Falco yelled at them "What?" Fox yawned but was answered when he saw they were just about to touch down on Azerbaid. Krystal yawned asking the same thing before slowing her Arwing down as they entered the planet's atmosphere. "I remember the first time we landed somewhere like this, I was so scared." She said to them, the flames coming off the front of the ships was quite terrifying the first time. "We all were." Fox chuckled, Falco protested even though he was too on their first time. "Okay, two hundred meters." Fox alerted. "One hundred." Slippy told them. "Now." fox said at fifty meters so they could start slowing up for a clean landing.

"Wow.." Krystal said looking down at the sandy terrain, either they landed in a desert area or this planet was dry, maybe that would explain the creatures being reptilian. "Great..over a hundred degrees." Fox sighed. "This will be fun." He muttered noticing he was already starting to feel uncomfortable from the heat. "Just get this over with and- Gah it's hot out here!" Krystal almost yelled to him "Quit whining and get to work, Fox I don't suspect you have been planning have you?" Falco said arrogantly. "Yes I have, I'll be with Krys." "As usual.." Falco interrupted. "And you'll be with Slippy." Fox finished. "I'll let you team up with her today but if this lasts another day, I'm your wingman." Falco told him "Alright, and if this doesn't last another day it'll carry to next mission." Fox promised, it had been a while since their last mission together.

"Where to Fox?" Krystal asked minutes after the two groups broke off. "Well they went South we're going North." Fox said looking around, the ground hardly sloped and you could see for miles. The fact that they could see so far out didn't help their confidence in finding anything seeing nothing of interest for quite a while. "Fox this is crazy." She panted. "I know it is but we'll adapt if we're here too long." He assured her but it didn't help. "It feels like we've already been here too long." She joked "Bet it beats being with Star Wolf though." Fox sighed not even fully aware of what happened to his rival's team. "It does, they fight and trash talk all day. It's almost like living with 3 evil Falco's all day." She told him making him laugh "That would be terrible, this heat is nothing compared to that." Fox joked she nodded at him. "Wait, I feel something." She alerted him bringing him to a halt. "There's something under us." Krystal muttered feeling brainwaves from below. "Weird." Fox muttered. Krystal's curiosity outdid his own, when the vulpine looked over he saw her attempting to jump and bring the old structure below them down. "I think I got i-woah!" She yelped falling down below, Fox couldn't help but laugh at how much alike they were.

Fox's smile was instantly erased when he heard a scream from below, he pulled out his blaster and jumped down the same hole she fell through moments ago. Fox landed with a thud twelve feet below the ground and saw what made Krystal scream, apparently this was used as a crypt a long time ago. "I thought you got hurt." He sighed, offering her a hand up. "No it just scared me." She admitted with a blush. "Knowing you, you never know what's going to happen." He sighed "Alright let's find a way out." He said seeing that their entrance was a bit of ways out of reach.

"Well Krystal, you definitely have what it takes to be a McCloud." Fox sighed pulling her along the eerie dark rooms. "Why?" She asked not knowing where he was planning to go with that. "Your luck is crummy like mine." He said making her giggle slightly at their misfortune for such an idiotic idea. "Great, locked." Fox grunted trying to knock the door down. "Okay if you cant push it down blow it up." She told him pulling out an explosive charge. "Get back." She ordered him, he followed her commands. The door blew open giving them a clear passage through yet another dark room filled with bodies.

Fox saw another door an got his explosive charges ready. His ears perked up and his actions were put on halt. "There's people inside." He whispered hearing a female voice speaking a foreign tongue on the other side of the thin wall. "Three people." She corrected him. "Husband, wife and a child." She whispered "Sometimes I think you do that to show off." He murmured. "Ready to scare a few people?" Fox asked "Couldn't we just knock?" She asked him with a smirk. "They could be hostile, now you ready?" He asked once more looking over to see her nod at him from the opposite side of the door. "Three, two.."

With a few screams the furred couple made it through the door. Their presence most definitely was noticed. "Fox they're asking for mercy." She told him, he now noticed that he had his blaster out almost as if he were ready for combat. "Sorry." He muttered putting the blaster back in it's holster. A sigh of relief was heard from the two when he put his blaster away. "Let's get out of here, now." She said to him "Please." He responded and looked for the door.

Fox finally found a door and looked outside to a site that surprised him, the sun was already setting. "Wow this place's days don't last long." Krystal sighed. "Yeah and it's going to get colder too." He told her. "Just what we need another night freezing." She sighed "It won't be too bad." He lied. "Aren't we supposed to meet up with Slippy and Falco?" She asked him "Yeah but I don't think we can make it." He told her making her sigh again. "Great." She groaned aloud.

"Well I think this is as far as we can make it if we aren't going to be at it all night." Fox told her hours later while looking at the full moon above. "Yeah I think you're right.." She said sleepily, she was truthfully ready to pass out. "Just sit back and let me do everything." He told her with a kiss to the forehead before she sat on the hill. She was already starting to shiver from the cold. "There now come here." He told her pulling her towards him. They had finally gotten to the point where they only needed to bring one sleeping bag on these missions. "Big day huh?" He whispered to her noticing her rubbing her legs, probably from the amount they had walked today. "Yeah." She sighed before getting as close to him as she could. Fox reacted by embracing the vixen and holding her tight.

"I'll keep you warm." He whispered to her. "I love you." She told him, her breath warm on his fur. "I love you too, tommorow will be the end of this and we'll be back home." He assured her. "And we'll get married." She whispered to him, she was still excited about that. "Not much longer for that either." He smiled brushing some of the hair from her face so he could get a better view. "You look just as good as the day I met you." He told her making her smile. "I don't know if that's true but thanks." She blushed at his comments. "I think it's time we should sleep but I feel like we haven't talked enough recently." She told him, it had been a surprisingly quiet day for the two, maybe it had been the heat's fault.

Fox looked down at her and rolled his eyes jokingly. "Well what do you want to talk about?" He asked her. "I want to know how we're going to do this wedding." She said to him, Fox thought they had planned this thing enough. "Well, normally the families play a big part but.." Fox trailed off hoping not to bring bad memories up. "Fox I can handle it you don't need to worry about that anymore. You're my family now and I love you more than anything." She told him hoping he wouldn't shy off on those things after so long. "Love you too Krys, but I don't know how we'll do this honestly." He sighed. "I don't know whether to honestly make Slippy or Falco my best man for it, Slippy let me be his but Falco would be hurt although he wouldn't admit it." Fox explained, she knew his choice would end up hurting someone most probably. "Falco would probably be the most affected." She told him truthfully. "Yeah." He agreed, Falco was more radical especially since Fox had made Krystal his main wingmate.

"Peppy wants to play a part by the way." He told her, there was no surprise. He had been there for them as a father figure when needed so who better. "I think I have a few ideas on what he could do." She sighed. "Good." He smiled happy to see that Peppy would now play a part or two. "What about your old friend Bill?" She asked him. "Oh..I should tell him about us getting married shouldn't I?" Fox remembered, he had tried calling once but it came with no answer. "Yeah.." She yawned, her eyes were half closed now. "Let's get some rest, you're tired. We have all day tommorow." He told her, he was still alert unlike her. "Night, I love you Fox." She told him although her voice was muffled from it being buried in his chestfur. "Night..Love you too." He sighed and hugged her as tight as possible and tried to drift off to sleep himself.

Fox woke up the next morning with an uncomfortable feeling of sand all over his body from the winds overnight. "Ugh." He groaned wiping his eyes free of any grains. "Finally you're up." A male voice said from beside of him "Falco? What're you doing all the way over here?" Fox asked seeing that Slippy was out on his own now on radar. "You said that today would be the day I don't have to be with that frogboy." Falco told him, Fox regretted telling him that but welcomed him with a smile. "Great, so..Krystal?" Fox poked at her only getting a light snore in response. "I say just leave her and let her find out on her own." Falco joked getting a glare in return. "Krystal.." Fox poked again, this time her eyes opened slightly and she smiled seeing his face. "Can I have five more..Oh." Krystal saw the avian in their presence. "You're going to have to go meet up with Slippy." Fox told her trying not to sound annoyed in the least. "Gee what a wake-up." She muttered with sand all over their sleeping bag from the night before this definitely _was_ one of the worst wake-ups she had.

"Krystal we'll meet up tonight either after our mission or at midnight okay." Fox whispered into her ear "Don't be late." she smirked at him before Falco interrupted them "Come on you two enough of this. You've known each other for years now go on." Falco complained. "Okay okay. I'll see you tonight." Fox told her before kissing her forehead goodbye. "I'll be looking forward to it." She said back with a smile before heading off to find Slippy's location. "You two are unreal." Falco complained. "You're actually worse than Slippy and Amanda." "Whatever, I love my life right now." Fox replied showing that he didn't care what anyone thought about them. "Wait until you guys get tired of each other, mark my words it will happen." Falco told him almost like he was an expert, which he was in his mind. "I'm just kidding though I hope you guys stick together like this until the end of your lives." Falco said more friendlier, his remarks seeming to get nicer by the moment.

"So you two just followed this crummy desert all day yesterday?" Falco asked seeing nothing around at all. "Yeah, we only found one thing of interest and it ended up being someone's house." Fox chuckled slightly remembering the look on their faces when they blew the door open. "We scared a poor family to death." He sighed. "Yeah I figured, you two could scare anything from a distance." Falco joked but didn't amuse Fox. "Come on you left it open." Falco said defensively expecting atleast a smirk. "Okay fine I'll lay off that." He sighed before changing the subject completely. "You've only got a week of freedom." Falco sighed looking at his friend. "I lost that when I told her I loved her the first time." Fox joked. "Yeah but when was that? Ages ago?" Falco asked him "Next she's going to want kids." Falco told him making Fox smile "We've been over that." "Yeah how many? One? Two? Eight?" Falco smirked "Two maybe." Fox told him with a slight blush. "Hope it turns out well for you two." Falco told him truthfully.

Krystal looked on the map, it seemed Slippy was getting further and further away or as if she was making no progress at all. "Slippy stay still." She yelled out over comms but it had no response. "Great!" She yelled out in frustration. She was happy to see a village up ahead though. "Great, maybe he's lost in there." She told herself "Krystal you okay over there?" Fox asked hearing her yelling. "Great, just great!" She said angrily. "Just calm down it'll be okay." He assured her, he might not have been there but it did help to be able to speak to him. "I know, look I need to find Slippy, he's lost or something and his wrist communicator is probably ruined. "Great.." Fox rolled his eyes halfway across the planet at her story. "Have fun." He told her before continuing on with Falco.

"I bet Slippy got himself in trouble knowing my luck." Fox muttered to Falco "Probably, he couldn't keep himself from stumbling around if he tried." Falco replied in slight disgust that Slippy was probably in trouble and deep inside he knew it was partially his fault. "Well should we turn back? Honestly I don't see a group's leader sitting out here in the desert." Fox suggested. "Well you're our leader and look where you are." Falco kidded him. "But I think we should head back, cities are a jackpot for crime." Falco told him, Fox only nodded to his friend and turned around hoping that this leader was in the only city they knew of at this point and not one of the smaller villages nearby.

Fox sighed, the need for water was hitting him like a truck at this point, sadly he had used his full canteen from how much he had walked back and forth throughout the two days. "I put our Arwings on autopilot. Hopefully they'll land about a hundred yards out." Fox alerted the avian "Good, I'm so thirsty. You got anything left?" Apparently Fox wasn't the only one suffering now, the heat was over 120 and it seemed to be rising. "No, sorry Falco." Fox replied smugly. "Great, I thought you were the smart conservative one." He told him. Fox hadn't really expected this mission to last this long so conservation wasn't an issue. "This is the worst heat that i've encountered on a real planet." Fox commented. He could imagine it being cooler on Solar right about now. "Let's just get to Slippy, ASAP." Falco told him before sitting down and watching the sky for any Arwings.

"Slippy?" Krystal called out seeing she was on his dot on the radar. "Krystal?" She heard from a distance, apparently her radar was slightly mistaken. She sighed and headed off towards wherever the voice came from not even noticing the civilians looking at her in the weirdest ways. "Fox?" She muttered seeing two Arwings in the distance and closing in on her location fast. "Krystal, we're pretty sure the guy were looking for is here so help us find him." Falco told her over comms. "Krystal, I'm sorry I haven't replied, I'm chasing down these few guys and I lost him." Slippy panted. "Atleast his radio works.." She though to herself wishing he had replied to her earlier although it might've alerted whoever he was following of his presence.

"Come on let's just find these guys and get home." Fox sighed pulling his blaster from the seat in his cockpit. "How have you been?" Krystal asked her love. "Great.." He said blandly. "Actually terrible to be honest." Falco joined in bringing a smirk from them both. "It hasn't been much better for me." Krystal muttered. "Come on Slippy knows which direction they went." She pulled the vulpine by the arm giving him no choice.

Slippy greeted his teammates with a warm smile. "There's eight or nine of them so I kept my distance, they went down into the cellar." Slippy pointed at an ancient trapdoor that lead under one of the smaller houses. "This place is dirt poor." Falco commented smugly. "I don't care, Krystal follow me. Falco you got the rear." Fox ordered "Alright fine." He sighed. "Slippy you watch for any escapees or backup." Fox told him. Slippy only nodded in response. "Okay follow up." He told Krystal who seemed reluctant to go in. "Fox hold on." She said worryingly getting his attention. "I have a really bad feeling about going in that way." She was trying her hardest to focus her telepathy to read whatever they were plotting inside but she couldn't seem to get enough info. "Okay you and Falco go find another way around and tell me _before_ you go in." Fox whispered so that they couldn't hear past the small wooden door. The only thing separating them from whatever, and whoever, was plotting against them.

Krystal and Falco fumbled through the house above the cellar trying to find a way inside while Fox waited patiently gripping at his blaster waiting for his plan to come to action. "Found it Fox, waiting for your orders." Krystal alerted him. Fox purposely fumbled with the door of the cellar on purpose before opening it, using the door for cover from the gunfire. There were atleast 7 shots firing by him a second. "Now!" He yelled, seeing the door open on the other side giving them a good flanking position like he had expected. With them now in the room Fox could finally get a couple of shots off and get a kill himself but he was unable to stop three of them from running into a different room.

"Can never get them all." He muttered. "There's even more in there." She said dreadfully. "Good more things to shoot at." Falco smirked. Fox opened the door and felt an immense burning sensation in his hand. "Gah!" He spat out knowing he had been shot in the hand. "Fox!" Krystal somewhat overreacted to his situation. "I can continue." He murmured before picking his blaster up and pushing through the pain to fight until whenever this battle would end. "I'll get the door this time." Krystal told him with a sweet smile that made him forget the pain for a split second. Fox leaned over to look through the door and started shooting at anything that moved. Each one of the lizards popping their heads up at different times almost resembling a game of whack-a-mole, eventually they would flee into yet another room. "Well atleast we have an idea of where this leader is." Falco said in a happier tone. He was right they were probably fleeing for protection.

"Fox are you okay?" She asked pulling his hand out to see the damage. "Ew." She commented, not making him feel much better. "Here." she told him before ripping off a bit of his shirt and wrapping around the wound. "Thanks, I owe you." He commented jokingly. "Well there's one for the thousands of times you've saved my tail." She smiled at him before pulling him to his feet. "Not much further to go hopefully." He sighed to her. "Then we can get back to planning this wedding." She continued her smile, she still was looking forward to it.

"Come on you two not so many in the next room." Falco alerted them and got them into position just like the last door. Krystal opened the door and expected Fox to shoot away instead all she heard was silence. "They dead?" Falco asked even though it was obvious they weren't "Krystal you take the left side Falco take right. I'll check the middle." Fox commanded, everyone obliged. "Fox, there's Noone in here." Falco told him but Fox knew better, the room was the size of a large Cornerian house, someone had to be there.

Krystal looked behind every peice of cover and couldn't find a thing which was odd, she sensed something. Something caught her eyes in the shadows. "Fo-" Was all she got out before feeling the worst pain in her nose she had ever felt. Thankfully it was enough to catch Fox's attention. "Krystal you okay?" Fox asked seeing her still laying flat on her back. "Ow I think my nose is bleeding." She said covering it with her paw. "Let me see." He said removing her paw from in front of her nose. "Wow you got hit hard." He muttered trying to wipe some of the blood off "Ow ow ow!" She yelled out at him in a nasally voice, he expected nothing less considering she just took one of the hardest blows to the nose he had seen. "Here" Fox said before pressing firmly on her snout to see if anything was broken."Fox.." She muttered before she saw stars, feinting at his touch. "Krystal?" He asked but had no response, atleast his question was answered. Something definitely was broken. "Falco, clear this out I need to get her out of here." He yelled. "Fox you just need to leave her be and get this done." Fox wouldn't listen to Falco's advice. "Hurry." Falco pleaded. "Yes, I'll hurry man." Fox assured him before carrying an out-cold Krystal out of the underground rooms.

"Slippy watch over her for me." Fox told the frog who had apparently gotten a couple kills as well. "Alright Fox." Slippy nodded before Fox leaned her against the outer wall of a house. Fox really prayed that Slippy wouldn't be ambushed or anything during his absence. "What happened to your hand?" Slippy asked seeing blood soaked up by cloth on his hand. "Got shot." He sighed before he hurried back in and met up with Falco. "Not much further to go now." Falco alerted Fox. "Yeah come on you open, I'll shoot." "Three, two, one. Now!" Falco counted before opening the door followed by another round of silence. "No enemies this time?" Falco asked before looking in to see an old tunnel system. "Well this'll be interesting." Fox sighed before taking point.

"Nothing here it seems." Fox said, his blaster held by his weaker hand from his wound. "Just run to the end." Falco suggested, Fox nodded and hustled to the end only to find a door that was jammed shut at the end. "You IDIOTS!" Fox could hear from a deep rumbling voice on the other side of the door."My gut feeling is their leader is in there." The vulpine smiled, hopefully he would be able to help Krystal soon. "Come on let's just wing it." Falco told him before opening the door giving Fox hardly any time to react. Falco knew they were offguard though. Fox rapidly fired his blaster taking down three of his enemies off the bat leaving only two to defend the bigger one which supposedly was their leader.

The bigger one pushed his ally out of the way and bolted for the door only to get shot in the back, paralyzing him but sadly not killing him. "Falco get the..Nevermind." Fox said seeing Falco had already taken the other one when he was pushed from his cover. "So do we let him live or kill him?" Falco asked Fox not really caring what fate he had in store. "I think we should take him into custody but it'll be hard. Krystal's out cold and I don't want to put him in her Arwing alone, he would destroy it." Fox sighed "Alright then let me do the honors." Falco pushed Fox away and pulled his blaster up. "Just do it already stupid bird." He grunted in their language. "With pleasure." Falco smiled deviously before pulling the trigger. Falco twirled his blaster on his finger. Fox grabbed all the documents he saw scattered along the floor before heading back to Krystal and to return to their 'home'.

_-Author's Note: Yes it's been long, too long in my opinion since my last chapter..Two weeks to be exact. I was working on this throughout the first week after last chapter but moving is really making writing hard on me. I will not give up like I've said before especially when I only plan to add three or four more chapters then start on my next fic. Hopefully there isn't many errors because I have modified a ton in this as I went on and I'm hoping it all runs well together. Thanks for the reviews and PMS and the views. I'm glad there's people out there who still are reading this. Got my new computer working and it's faster than ever so I'm happy about that.-_

Almost done guys almost done. **Thanks for everything**


	68. LXVIII Preparation

LXVIII. Preparation

Krystal heard faded voices nearby, she couldn't see a thing. "Krystal?" She heard from Fox's voice barely, she tried to move but couldn't. "Okay she's asleep." He said to someone behind him. She'd felt this way before, although she couldn't quite think logically at that moment she knew she was under the effect of some drug. "I'm sorry for this but it's for your own good." He sighed before making the worst pain possible go through her nose. She tried to scream but everything went blank as soon as she opened her mouth and she was back to sleep.

"F-Fox?" Krystal whimpered. "Hey Krystal." Fox said lovingly before she felt his paw in her hair. "My nose hurts." She whined still speaking in that same nasally tone. "You'll be just fine." He said calming her down. The vixen still couldn't see, everything was black just like the previous day. "Where am I?" She asked laying back to find her lovers arm wrapped around her. "The Great Fox." He said, she could imagine how he looked right now. She could sense something on the vulpine's mind though, he wasn't looking forward to something. Something he had to tell her? "Fox what's wrong?" She asked, he sighed knowing she could sense his worst emotions a light-year away. "Nothing just rest now." He said, his paws rubbing at her shoulders making her want to sleep but she also needed to know what was wrong. "Bu-" "Just rest I'll show you tommorow." He sighed knowing it was going to happen now.

Krystal woke up the next morning finally able to see, her face was numb and her love was right beside her but also for some reason keeping more of a distance than usual. "Fox?" She asked only to get a groan in response. "Fox." She told him, her curiosity getting the worst of her. She needed to know what he had to tell her last night. "Okay Krystal I'll show you." He sighed getting up and stretching. She closed her eyes expecting possibly a present but knowing his emotions didn't match such a gift. "Here." He told her holding a mirror out and watching her eyes widen. She looked into the mirror seeing the damage done to her face from the previous mission with disgust. "Fox!" She cried out, tears rolling down her bruised cheeks. "It's fine." He said embracing her. "No it's not! We're getting married this weekend!" She cried out on his shoulder.

The vixen's snout was almost pure purple and the fur around it showed bruises as well. "It's broken Krystal but we have an appointment for you on Corneria tommorow, they'll fix everything." He assured her confidently. This had happened to him many of times when he'd get into fist fights but never had he looked this bad. "Okay.." She whimpered, calming down some from the hysterical emotional high she was just at. "I just want our wedding to be perfect." She sighed before nuzzling into his chestfur out of instinct. "Let's sleep in." She sighed, her nose aching and her mind wanting this day to end so her nose would be fixed. "By the way it hurt alot when you put my nose back in place." She sighed, Fox had expected that one to come."I'm sorry I really thought you were asleep." Fox apologized. "Sadly not." She sighed. "It's all okay now, just look forward to Saturday." Fox said encouragingly "It's hard to when you look like I do." She whined. "I still think you look beautiful." She knew he was lying. "Good nigh-Morning Fox." She sighed before falling asleep, avoiding contact between him and her nose.

"I might as well just wear a paper bag over my head." Krystal muttered before they landed. "If they haven't seen what you look like regularly they've been blinded the past few years." Fox replied. "So what're we going to do here?" "Just chill and your nose will be good as new." He told her before getting out to help her out of her Arwing. "Should be the fifth floor." He told her entering the building. She was obviously worried from the fair amount of stares they received. "Don't worry it'll only last a couple more hours." He told her, she let out a fake smile in response. It was obvious, Krystal was miserable.

Fox went in with Krystal when her name was called, luckily they were the only ones in the office. "Wow that's a bad hit." Was his first response. Followed by the poking that caused pain into the vixen's snout. "So what would you like your new nose to look like?" The doctor asked throwing her a book. "My old one." She said defiantly. She didn't want her nose to change, other than the bruises and now-regular bleeding. "Here's a picture, just fix it please." Fox sighed placing one of their earlier pictures on the table. "Alright, I'll try my best at it." He told them "Try?" Krystal gasped before he left the room. "It'll be fine." He assured her, it better for what he would be paying.

"So where do you want to go for our Honeymoon next week?" He asked her, she had asked him to plan that. "Well I don't know, you choose." She wondered what he had in mind. "Well we promised to go to Sauria. To Tricky that is." Fox sighed "But I have an invitation to a new resort here on Corneria." He showed her their pamphlet. "Hmm, we'll talk about it later." She told him, as if on cue the doctor came in to knock her out.

Fox sat anxiously in the waiting room, hoping everything went alright when a magazine caught his eye. The title read "Star Fox Reunited, Star Wolf crushed" "This'll be interesting." Fox muttered before opening it up. Obviously the first part would focus more on Krystal's return but Fox was curious to what happened of Star Wolf, normally they would pester him atleast once a week and this was getting close to two months since fighting them last. According to the article, Wolf gave up (Fox doubted that) Leon went with him and Panther went AWOL from the team. Fox sighed and went on to read about what they said about Krystal's return.

"Fox!" Krystal yelled out, Fox knew everything was okay just by the sound of her voice, it wasn't in that nasally tone anymore. "I'm glad to see you back to normal." He chuckled, looking around to see noone had came in when he was focused on the magazine article. "Well, I've got a good place we can eat at while we're here to celebrate your recovery." He told her bringing the smile he had been looking for for days back. "You haven't taken me to go eat in..Ever." She sighed, she hadn't had a decent meal in days.

Fox and Krystal sat down waiting to be served when Krystal started the conversation. "Fox why do you love me?" She asked, Fox looked baffled at why she asked. "Why wouldn't I? You're smart, strong, beautiful." He made her blush slightly. "Oh Fox." She sighed before noticing a waitress coming there way. They ordered their food and continued their conversation, one that they wouldn't have done in public a year ago. "I also like the fact that you aren't heartless despite having such a vicious job." Fox continued. "We're fighting for the right side though and what I did with Star Wolf when you left me here was heartless." She muttered not too proudly. "What I did was worse." He sighed not too proudly himself. "I think it made us stronger as a couple, I knew something was wrong when everything was perfect." She told him, he smiled back to her in agreement. The two ate and shared conversation as usual while ignoring a crowd gathering and trying to ask questions.

"Come on Krys." Fox told her pulling her by the paw, she had no idea where they were going. "What? Where are we going?" She asked not liking this being drug around. "Here, don't you remember this?" Fox asked looking into her eyes seeing some confusion before she realized where they were. "Where you finally got the courage to ask me out?" She giggled "Too bad that date didn't work out well." She sighed remembering the mission that had ruined that date. "Well tonight we had our date but I also though I'd come here with you just to sit and relax." Fox said as he pulled Krystal onto his lap. "Fox I got a question." She muttered quietly "Hmm?" Fox turned to meet her gaze with his own. "Why do you call me Krys all of a sudden?" She turned blood red as she asked him. "Well I needed something to annoy you with and I thought Kryssie would be too harsh on you." He joked making her laugh. "I'd have to kill you if you called me that." She commented, Fox expected a fate worse than death if he called her that in battle. "I like it though.." She trailed off before humming a familiar tune silently, one she had heard from a popular song on the radio that Fox couldn't bare to listen to yet now it seemed okay.

"I think Wolf is done." Fox told her minutes later after silence had overcome the two staring at the sunset. "What?" She jumped back in his arms "That's unlikely." She told him although now she was starting to remember their last dogfight with Panther. "I read it in a magazine while you were getting your nose fixed." By saying this he was technically admitting to believing an unreliable source. "If Wolf's gone then we won't have much trouble other than the big missions." She told him stating the obvious. "I know and that'll be good for us I think." He smiled to her seeing she was grinning as well. "I can't wait until Saturday Fox." She changed the subject to whatever her mind skipped to. "I can't either." He chuckled at her change of thought. "Let's head back and get some rest, three days." He reminded her, she smiled and gasped when Fox didn't help her up and instead carried her back to where they landed.

Krystal climbed into her Arwing and couldn't fly away from Corneria for some reason, the skyline was too alluring. As they took off Krystal asked "Fox would you like to just fly around for a minute?" Fox turned to her as if she could be sick. "Sure thing Kryssie." Fox joked remembering their earlier conversation. Almost instantly an alarm went off in his Arwing letting him know that he was locked onto. "I'm sorry Fox but I told you." Krystal smirked knowing she jokingly had Fox in a tight spot now. "Alright..You want to play this way." He smirked in his own cockpit before shooting straight up as fast as he could breaking the lock. Krystal tried to keep up in this new game of chicken they were playing although she was losing and struggling to keep from blacking out from the G's she was pulling. She backed off a second before Fox did "How do you do that so well?" She asked getting back to her full senses and still trying to catch Fox who was swerving left and right to avoid a lock. "I've been doing this all my life, you've been doing it a few years." He told her before flipping behind her when she least expected it.

"Gotcha." He muttered making Krystal groan. "This reminds me of Sauria." She thought aloud. "Yeah, you're so much better now." He complimented her. "Did we just blaze through a city?" She asked looking behind her to see skyscrapers in the distance. "Yep..Crap." Fox commented knowing that cities were a no-fly zone unless totally necessary. "Okay let's leave, now!" She said almost like a kid would when breaking something. "Right behind you." Fox smiled following her back to their home.

_-Author's Note: Hasn't been too long since my last chapter yet I think it's been TOO long. I just haven't had that much time to write lately and I really have wanted to. It's obvious what's happening in the next chapter so it will be longer most probably unless I break it up into 2 to make quicker releases. My next chapter most definitely will not be out very soon considering I have just had a recent death in the family and I have to be at the funeral two states over so I hope this is enough to hold you guys over. Like I've said before your reviews mean the world to me and so do your PM's. Sorry for not letting the wedding be in this chapter but I didn't have the time if I wanted to release this week. Later!-_


	69. LXIX Perfection

LXIX. Perfection

"Fox can you help me with this luggage?" Falco asked in a pestering way. "No Falco I'm busy, you know what today is." Fox said before looking in the mirror to check his appearance . "I know I know." Falco sighed "But Katt came in late and now I'm the only one here to help." He whined. Fox had no time for this he was getting ready to get married in two hours. "All right I'm leaving." Fox alerted everyone before grabbing his tux jacket and heading for his Arwing, today was the day.

Fox landed and already saw Peppy dressed for the occasion. "Well I'm getting older than dirt." Peppy said to the vulpine as he walked up to the church. "No you're not." Fox told the hare walking into the doorway with him. "Krystal here?" Fox asked, she had left him earlier but had to do more errands to make sure the occasion was perfect. "Yep she can't wait." Peppy smiled at the fox. "I can't wait and see what kind of dress she picked out." Fox chuckled before taking a seat on one of the pews.

Peppy sat next to the vulpine waiting for the time to run out and for them to get their show on the road. "James would've loved to be here with you Fox." Peppy muttered Fox only nodded and thought about what a joke a wedding without parents would seem, thankfully Peppy stepped in to help them. "What you're doing really means alot to us." Fox smiled at his father's best friend and even his father-figure. "I'm honored to Fox." Peppy smiled before Fox decided it was time for him to make sure he looked perfect for this.

In what seemed to be a blink of an eye Fox opened his eyes and heard the music that started Krystal's entrance, here comes the bride. Fox's mouth felt like it opened 10 feet wide when he saw Krystal walk through with Peppy who had offered to walk her down the aisle. Krystal could tell Fox's amazement and could read his lips "Wow" when he first saw her. "You look beautiful." Fox muttered to her when she got up next to him it was obvious that she was blushing as much as he was when they first met. Fox could hear talking but couldn't keep his eyes off her for the first few moments making her blush even worse.

It wasn't long before Fox heard the preacher ask him "Do you take Krystal to be your wife?" "I do." He didn't even thinking about it making her smile as wide as ever. "You may now kiss the bride." Was heard and there was no hesitation as Fox kissed Krystal for the first time of their married life. "I love you." Krystal whispered to him after their muzzles parted. "I love you too." Fox said with a smile. With that their wedding was over and finally Krystal and Fox shared the McCloud surname.

"Krystal I love you." Fox whispered hours later, her head rested on his shoulder while they danced. "I love you too, I'm so happy and excited to spend the rest of my life with you." Krystal told him making him smile. "So how much longer are we going to spend here?" She asked curiously. "I doubt we'll be here another half hour." Fox told her.

Soon they were on their way to their hotel where they would stay the night before flying to Sauria the next day. "I think I'm partially in shock." Krystal said when they were out of view distance of the church. "That you married an idiot like me?" Fox joked making her smile at him. "Well that and that we're actually married now, does it feel any different?" She asked him snuggling up to his arm. "I don't think I could love you any more than I already did." Fox told her sweetly seeing her getting comfortable in his arms. "Don't fall asleep yet." He smirked to her she just looked up at him before pretending to snore only to get a playful push in return.

Fox and Krystal arrived at the hotel they had known from years ago, the one they stayed at after the Aparoid war, and it hadn't changed much. "Last time we were here felt like ages ago." Krystal sighed to Fox still in the same position as earlier. "Yeah but it's only for one night." Fox said thinking Krystal was dissapointed in their place for the night. "I can't wait to get up there." She whispered to him bringing a smile from him as well "Neither can I."

"Great.." Krystal sighed disheartened by the lines of cameras flashing. "I'm sorry." Fox said as if this were his fault. "Really, I sadly didn't expect this." He admitted. "I did." She muttered under her breath "Come on let's give them a few pictures and get on with our lives." He told her before gripping his blaster which was concealed in his tux. Krystal followed him out now with a not-so-wide smile on her face "You take that thing everywhere." She sighed to him quietly before the flashing blinded her eyes.

They gave them almost two quick photos before getting into the hotel's lobby, thankfully none of their 'fans' were allowed inside. "Come on Krystal let's get our honeymoon actually started." Fox called for her after checking in, she was occupied staring at a fountain that was recently added to the lobby. "Hang on." He warned her but she remembered this elevator, it was worse than the G's she was pulling the other night above this very city.

Fox was very quick to pick Krystal up and carry her to their room. "It's not Sauria but it will be tommorow." Fox told her she only smiled and looked up at him. "I love you." She told him with a smile. "I love you too, Krystal i'm going to make tonight the best night of your life." Fox promised her, she only smiled at him even wider before Fox covered her lips with his own.

Fox looked out the window to see the sun rising over Corneria's landscape and the love of his life was next to him still sound asleep. _"How could life get any better?"_ He thought to himself not even able to find an answer, the way the sun shone off of Krystal made her look even more intoxicating to him. "I love you.." Fox said without thinking waking the vixen from her slumber. "I love you too." She whispered groggily before trying to get back to sleep, her head resting on his chest. "Get back to sleep." He said to her quietly, she didn't object.

It wasn't for a few hours that Krystal finally woke up only to find that Fox hadn't moved. "Good morning Mrs. McCloud." Fox said with a grin obviously proud that he was now married to her. "Good morning Mr. McCloud." She told him with a giggle. "What time is it?" She asked looking around for a clock. "Almost three." Fox replied only to see her turn red. "What?" He asked seeing she was starting to panic slightly. "We won't make it to Sauria until dark now." She sighed "That's fine you needed to rest for all we're going to be through this week." Fox joked to his new wife. "I wanted to watch the sunset on Cape Claw though." She pouted. "Alright well you know Slippy has upgraded our Arwings for speed." Fox told her, baffling her. "When did he do-" "That's what he's been working on this whole time for our gifts." Fox told her she only smiled. "Well come on get dressed then if we're going to make it we need to hurry."

Krystal rushed to get her bags ready for their next trip to Sauria before they'd return to Corneria once more to end out their Krystal got to their improved Arwings she was shocked. "Geeze they don't even look like Arwings." Krystal said not looking too happy on the design of the upgraded Arwings "You'll like them when you fly them." Fox assured her she only looked still baffled at the look. They looked more like a cross from an Arwing and a Wolfen now. "I can't believe you'd give up that old Arwing for this though." She said climbing into the slightly newer tech cockpit. "I'm not going to fight in these, my luck I'd fly right into my enemy." Fox joked. "Am I a product of bad luck?" She asked jokingly. "No you're the best thing that ever happened to me. Now come on let's get to Sauria." Fox told her before taking off leaving her behind by a split second.

"Approaching Saurian airspace." Fox alerted her breaking their conversation. "Two hours, dang Fox we shaved off a couple hours with these things." She commented, he was happy now that they could travel quicker than any other ship out there. "I'm actually scared to try and land this thing." She commented trying to slow her craft up quite a bit. "It'll be fine, ladies first." Fox told her making her roll her eyes. "Okay.." She sighed seeing it was actually easier than ever. "See told you." Fox told her before landing only inches beside of her. "Come on get a couple bags." Fox told her tossing a few bags her way.

The two finally got packed and sat down on the beach of Cape Claw looking out on the ocean just as planned. "All we've been through already.." She sighed trailing off into thought. "It was pure fate that sent us both here, it's funny that I'm actually glad I was captured." She went on. "I wish we could've met on better terms but everything's working perfectly." He told her "Yeah, even though it wasn't actually _perfect. _I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but here in your arms." She told him sweetly. "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else either." He told her looking into her eyes. "Aw I'm glad you two could make it." Someone else joined the conversation. "Oh, hey Tricky." Fox said seeing that Tricky had once more snuck up on them when they were totally focused on each other and nothing else.

"I knew you'd keep your promise and come back here." Tricky said happily. "Yep, we're happy to be back here too." Krystal said cheerfully. "Yeah Tricky, you've done good with this place." Fox said making Tricky smile. "Well thanks you two." Tricky said happily "I just wanted to welcome you two, I'll leave you two alone for now!" Tricky said with a chuckle before leaving the two alone. "He's nuts." Fox sighed to her. She looked behind him to make sure that Tricky was out of sight before kissing the vulpine once more.

Fox's communicator trumpeted alerting him of someone trying to contact him bringing frowns from both of them. "Slippy, what could he want now?" She asked seeing the frog's face plain as day on the communicator. "Nothing important." Fox smirked before ignoring the call irresponsibly. Krystal couldn't help but gasp at this action, it was nothing she ever expected Fox to do. "He's not in any trouble." Fox assured her seeing the look of discomfort in her face. "Plus we didn't call him when he was with Amanda." He told her now feeling sort of sorry for his options. "Just call him back to make sure." Krystal told him, he sighed and called Slippy to make sure everything was alright.

"Hey Fox, thought you were gonna ignore me, heh." Slippy said as soon as the vulpine called "Sorry Slippy, I accidentally hit ignore." Fox lied. "So how has your day been?" Slippy asked in a friendly way, Fox didn't want to chit-chat. "Best days of my life, is Falco in trouble again?" Fox skipped right to the point to keep this call from dragging on. "No Katt's got him under control for now, I just wanted to check up on you two with you all being vulnerable right now." Slippy told him, Fox wasn't too happy to hear he was 'Vulnerable' at any time. "alright then Slippy I'll talk to you later." Fox told the frog "Later" Slippy said before ending the call to leave the two alone. "Come on let's just head inside." Fox told Krystal, it was already dark. "Alright." She smiled, she was already glued to his arm.

"This is paradise." Krystal sighed, now snuggled up next to Fox. Their new setting just like something out of her dreams and Fox knew she would like this. They were facing the old fireplace in the house they were staying in and enjoying each other's company and as always being quite successful at it. "I know, just think in one year this will be almost every day." He told her making her smile at him "Almost?" She asked making him smile "Well you'll get tired of me eventually." He joked "Yeah right." She playfully smacked the vulpine's head. "You want to sleep like this?" She asked him, he was almost asleep already. "Yes, I love you so much." He whispered into her ear. She grasped his paw and tried to get to sleep with him, thinking about what they'd come up with to do the next day.

Krystal woke up to the sound of slight snoring late the next morning, she was shocked to see Fox hadn't even moved an inch. "Fox.." She whispered only getting him to snore slightly louder. "Fox!" She yelled making him jump. "What?" He asked sitting up and grasping his blaster out of instinct. "You were snoring." She giggled "And like I said you take that blaster everywhere." She joked making him smirk slightly, it's all she would get out of him whilst he was this tired. "You slept with your head on mine all night." She said to him when he tried to lay back down. "Tired." He muttered, she wished she had recorded him saying that for all the energy he seemed to have while on a mission.

Fox woke up a little later to an empty house "Krystal?" He called out but didn't get a response. The vulpine threw on some clothes and headed outside to see what the vixen could be doing but found her alone staring out at the ocean. "Why'd you leave?" Fox asked her "Tricky came." She sighed "He just left and I was headed back inside.." She tried to explain "I don't mind." He told her, silencing her. "So what are we going to do today?" He asked her. "I kinda want to go to Thorntail Hollow for old times' sake." She told him, obviously she had though about this. "Alright, want to go now?" He asked "Yep." She replied quickly before accepting his helping hand up. "Your furs a mess by the way." She said before trying to get it to stick down herself. "Yours is too." He joked.

"Normally I couldn't walk on this trail without some stupid lizard trying to kill me.." Fox pondered aloud as they walked up the only path out of Cape Claw. "I know, you're always going to be my hero." She told him sweetly. "And you'll always be worth the time I put into it." He told her not really able to come up with much to say there that he hasn't said before. "Even when I was with Star Wolf?" She asked even though part of her didn't want to. "Even when you were with them." He admitted, he would never want to hurt her and would never had wanted to ignore her when she was in need. "You go first, I'm scared the ladder will break." She admitted to him "Well thanks you know. When I end up paralyzed from the fall who will save the Lylat System?" Fox said sarcastically before steadily going down the well to get to the other side. "Falco will!" She yelled down the cave-like area causing a louder echo.

Fox led Krystal through the small forest and they arrived in Thorntail Hollow shortly after, meeting up with Tricky and a few other old acquaintances. "Thought you weren't going to come." Tricky commented to Krystal who blushed wildly. "So this was planned?" Foxed asked raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, Tricky wants us to meet someone." She admitted, still red under her blue fur. "Alright, who is it Tricky?" Fox asked curious himself. "Guys I think I've found my perfect soulmate." The dinosaur told them "Wait, what?" Fox asked quite shocked, Krystal was laughing at the vulpine's confusion. "Yeah, I met her a while back and we're best friends like you two are." Tricky explained. "Cool, where is she?" Fox asked, he wanted to see who Tricky's love was. "She'll be here in about an hour so just chill out until then." Tricky told them. Fox rolled his eyes at the dinosaur

"Well that makes it official." Fox muttered to himself. "What?" Krystal asked, she could hear everything he said. "Well Slippy's married, we're married and now even Tricky's getting married." He explained. "Falco's the only one not in the club unless you count Peppy?" She asked. "No..Everyone's getting ready to settle down." Fox sighed. "At this point when we retire Falco will hold the fate of Lylat." Krystal couldn't keep a straight face at the thought. "He'll get new pilots obviously, it's just kinda odd to me." Fox admitted. "Things will work out but I do want to see one thing." "What?" Krystal asked him "Just follow me." Fox told her before leading her down a vine wall in the center of the hollow.

"Why do you want to go down here?" She asked him he only led her through the cave. "Just curious to see.." Fox was answered by a "Out of Business" sign on the shop's entrance. "Oh, you wanted to see this?" She asked him with a smirk. "Yeah was just curious, she's probably dead by now." Fox sighed "Nah, I saw her floating around Cape Claw earlier, she's odd." She told him "Yeah she was weird as hell." Fox chuckled. "But I was curious to see if she's gotten any of our equipment since that first adventure here." Fox told her before helping her out from the cave.

The furred couple sat next to a cliff in the shade while waiting for Tricky to hurry back to them, this day not going as they had planned so far. "Looks like it's going to rain sometime soon." Fox sighed looking up to the sky. "Yeah but we'll make it back first..I hope." Krystal muttered in response. "Hey guys she's here." Tricky yelled to them "Finally." Fox muttered under his breath, honestly he was ready to head back to their 'home'.

"Fox, Krystal..I'd like you to meet Sandra." Tricky told them before a dinosaur that looked similar to his mother came into the picture. "Nice to meet you two, Tricky talks all the time about you Fox." She said with a nervous smile. "Nice to meet you too." was all Fox could say, he was partially in shock of her name as a dinosaur. "So I heard you two got married." She said bringing an interesting conversation for Krystal, Fox only covered his face with his paw briefly knowing that they'd talk for hours or atleast until it rained on them.

What seemed to be days later they were headed back and the rain luckily hadn't started yet. "Alright take care." Krystal called out to the two dinosaurs "Let's hurry back and make sure we covered the Arwing's engines this time." Fox told her "Alright but I fixed that up last night." She told him but he would still check to be safe. "Let's just enjoy these next few days alone preferably." Fox told her hoping not to anger her with that comment. "That sounds nice, let's just head back and lay next to that fireplace again..If we have any more firewood that is." She smirked. "There is, I always keep some in my Arwing just in case." "Just in case of what?" She asked him jokingly. "Well if it's really cold on a planet we're stranded on we'll have warmth, or if this happens we can have a romantic evening." He smiled at her not even noticing that he was already at the well near Cape Claw.

Fox's ears twitched when he heard thunder strike nearby, rain was getting ready to pour and it was obvious they were going to be just late. "Krystal just head in the house I'll make sure everything's okay." He told her she didn't listen to his order. "No I'll stay out here and help." She told him, checking the covers she put over the engines of the Arwing so they wouldn't have their scarab issue again. "Look at this, they're everywhere." Fox said in astonishment. "You know that floating lizard would have a heart attack right now." She joked remembering how much the Saurian currency meant to her. "Yeah but let's get inside." Fox told her pulling her by the arm to signal that he was finished.

Once inside Fox held the shivering Vixen, they were both soaked from head to toe. "I hope you aren't sick." Fox told her using a towel to dry her fur. "I'm not j-just cold." She shivered getting close to him for body heat and just to be closer. "Does this hurt anymore?" She asked touching the place on his hand where he was shot just a week ago. "No, just a black spot now." He told her, laying down on their sleeping bag and pulling her with him. "I really hope it doesn't rain too long." She sighed still once more wanting everything to be perfect.

With the crack of thunder the two woke up from their slumber. "Great, looks like it'll be stormy today." Krystal said stating the obvious. "Well we can just enjoy each other's company inside instead." Fox told her pulling her closer to him. "Yeah we can." She couldn't help but smile at him right now. "I wanted to go swimming sometime though." She whined at him "Well if it rains like this you'll be swimming soon." Fox joked before pulling her in for a kiss. "Love you." Krystal moaned to him after the kiss broke. "I hope tommorow it doesn't rain so you can do whatever you want." Fox told her. She smiled back before trying to get back to sleep considering this day was shot.

"Fox open up." A knocking at the door startled him, "Why is Slippy here?" He asked Krystal who was still sound asleep to his surprise. "Hey Slippy what's up?" A barely dressed Fox McCloud answered the door. "Well I just made these and wondered while you guys are here if you'd place them." Fox sighed and rubbed his eyes, why was Slippy even bugging him and why couldn't he place whatever it was. "Sure thing" He muttered quietly noticing Slippy trying to take a peak inside of what they'd been living in recently. "What are they?" He asked out of curiosity even though Slippy would go on about his technical invention.

"Well basically whenever something happens to this planet the dinosaurs could alert us by using these beacons, flip the switch and we'll get a signal to come save the planet." Fox tried not to smack his forehead. "But Krystal's telepathy gives us that ability without having to waste the last day of our vacation here." "True but how reliable is that?" Slippy asked making Fox angry that he would even doubt Krystal's senses. "Fine, fine." He groaned not wanting to have an argument "Later Slippy." Fox said to the frog before shutting the door in a slightly rude way.

"Come on Krystal, time to get up I guess." Fox sighed hating to wake her up in such a state, better yet he decided to go without her to avoid waking her. It couldn't be too hard in theory he just had to fly his Arwing around and put one of these in each location then tell someone what it was for. "So there's six.." Fox said to himself inside the cockpit of his Arwing "Should be enough." He sighed before taking off hoping Krystal wouldn't wake from the sound.

Fox flew into Thorntail Hollow like a maniac, fueled by the want to get this over with as fast as he could he was flying as reckless as he did when he was younger. "What's the rush?" A Thorntail asked Fox as he hopped out of his Arwing, sweat on his forehead. "Here just take this to Tricky or someone. Press this button if anyone attacks." Fox panted, this had to have been the hottest day of the year. "Well Tricky doesn't live here he only visits every so often, he lives at The Walled City." Fox sighed "Just place it somewhere and tell everyone." The Thorntail picked the small circular device up with his mouth and carried it over the the center of the village. "One left.." Fox sighed jumping into his Arwing.

"About time.." Krystal muttered seeing an Arwing flying overhead. She had no idea why Fox had left and why he was flying so fast but she did know she needed answers on why he left without telling her. "Where'd you go?" She asked as the canopy opened and the vulpine jumped out. "Slippy brought some new invention I had to set out and you were asleep so I didn't wake you up." He panted. "Why would he come here and ask you to test out something?" She asked furiously. "It's designed to keep this planet safe apparently if they switch the transmitters they'll alert the Great Fox and also beep very loudly.." Fox gasped for breath before sitting down on the ground "Okay.." She sighed seeing that the heat had taken it's toll on him "I'll go get you a water." "Thanks." Fox sighed watching the waters of Cape Claw like she had done all day.

"Sorry." Fox said sweetly to her knowing she was already upset about how the day had started. "It's fine, it's still four and we have a few hours to have fun." She sat beside him wrapping her tail around his own and smiling at him. "So swim today before we head to Corneria?" He asked her bringing a bigger smile to her face just like he had hoped for. "Would love to." She told him. "It's like a hundred out here." Fox complained to her "Well then go get your trunks on." She told him, she was already in her bathing suit prepared for this to happen. "Be right back then." Fox chuckled leaving her with a kiss on the side of her muzzle.

Fox came out not even a minute later and picked Krystal up taking her to the ocean waters. "Fox wait!" She yelled out in a giggling fit. "What?" He stopped seeing she had to take off the wrist communicator she had on. "They're waterproof you know." He commented but she still wanted to be safe. Fox let Krystal go as soon as the water got deep enough to swim in and received a playful splash in return. "So you want to race me?" She asked him knowing Fox couldn't turn down competition. "Alright where to?" He asked confidently "Umm that rock out there." She pointed to a rock near the shore a good ways out from where they were. "Alright, I'll give you a ten second headstart too." Fox smirked "Confident aren't we?" She asked playfully before swimming off kicking water into his face. "Hey!" He yelled out before following after her, this meant war.

Krystal looked behind her and saw Fox closing in as usual but she was almost to their goal, so close. They both touched the rock within a split second and both of them came up spluttering and claiming they had won. "That was close.." She sighed breathlessly still believing she had been the winner of their contest. "Yeah you got me, you didn't even get ten seconds." He panted for breath as well. "Nice try." She commented before kissing him on the cheek and swimming off only to be drug back to the rock by his arms.

"So to Corneria?" She asked throwing a towel his way when they finally made it to shore. "In a little bit, I set up your Arwing to autofollow me so you can rest from all this crap I've put you through." Fox grinned sheepishly at her. "I won't be able to sleep probably but it was a nice thought." She told him before drying herself off. "I was expecting to stay here longer but that new place seems nice you'll like it." Fox told her"You won't have to cook anymore they'll do it for us and we can just relax for three days or so before either coming back here or getting back to work." "Sounds nice." She looked him in the eyes before looking out again at the sunset of the last day for them on Sauria for this visit.

_-Author's Note: Well we're getting to the conclusion of this story bit by bit I've been working a while on this chapter, battling the demon of the internet to get this up but it's finally here.. Not much else to say though Next chapter is already mostly finished but I want to check over it some not gonna swear it'll be up in the next couple of days but hey who knows.. Enjoy this though guys thanks for the reviews PM's and all other forms of Support..Eventually (Most likely tonight) I'll be putting this on deviant art which there will be a link to my account on my page later tonight..enjoy peoples sorry for the wait!-_


	70. LXX Destined to Happen

LXX Destined to Happen

Fox smiled looking at the pictures from his times with Krystal for the past few years. It had definitely been the wildest and best years of his life and he was glad the rest of his life would be with someone like her. "Geeze she goes down to Corneria and you're all ga-ga over photos." Falco complained as usual. "I guess I really _love_ her." Fox snapped back getting some attention from Slippy. "Guys chill.." The Frog said almost like a parent, all of the girls had gone down to Corneria for a shopping trip.

What made her so appealing to him, her looks definitely but she seemed to move seamlessly always without error when with him. He got to the few pictures they took of their honeymoon and smiled at the old rickety house at Cape Claw and how their future house was going to be on Sauria as well and he was ready for his retirement. Four months since their marriage and he wouldn't have changed those missionless months for anything. "Star Wolf's gone, Aparoids are destroyed, Andross is dead...Twice.. And Scales is too." He said kicking back in his chair. "I think there's no more problems for us to deal with." "You forgot the Anglar but they weren't much of an enemy if your girl could down the emperor alone." Falco said cockily "She'd kick your tail." Is all Fox needed to say for the bird to back down.

"Arwings approaching at high speed, life forms aboard." R.O.B alerted them "Well, they're back." Slippy said before putting up his toolbox. "Katt I need you for a moment." Krystal yelled getting the feline's attention as soon as they came through the door. "She shrugged you off." Falco joked reading the paper from a week ago to see if he was mentioned in anything. "Must be something important." Fox answered before putting up the photo album that Krystal had given to him as a birthday present (He had put some photos in himself). Fox could hear the two giggling hysterically and even slightly jumping up in down, something was up.

"Fox get up I need to talk to you." Krystal called for him moments later. "Alright, what's up?" He asked her. "Well I've been feeling weird lately and well-" "Fox we've got a huge problem our transmitters are going nuts on Sauria!" Slippy interrupted them. "Great.." Fox sighed. "We'll be there in a minute just hold up." "Now what was that Krys?" "I'll tell you after this emergency." She told him before leaving off to meet Slippy. Fox hurried to catch up.

"Our transmitters on Sauria went off?" Fox asked even though the emergency beeping was going crazy. "Maybe there was a curious dinosaur..Who knows, all I know is that we need to fix it." Slippy told them. "Well nothing majors happening so I'll go with Krystal so we can get done quicker." Fox wanted to get this done fast and Krystal's knowledge of Sauria along with his would be the best combo. "Well we're already close to Sauria so let's just set course for it and you guys make sure your Arwings are ready for takeoff." Fox didn't want to wait for this but reluctantly agreed.

The two Arwings ripped through Saurian airspace only fifteen minutes later, they had officially just set an airspeed record before slowing down to land on the top of the mountain near where the signal was coming from. "Great, someone moved it." Fox sighed looking around "Check and see if the snow covered it." She suggested "It'd be beeping though that's weird." Fox pondered aloud.

Fox shivered he didn't think he'd ever been so cold in his life. "Krystal let's just focus on getting down the mountain." Fox yelled to her, he hoped she could hear him from the distance. "Fox..What if someone moved it?" She yelled back at him not getting a response for a few moments. "I think I see something down there Krys." He signaled for her to follow him down the trail that eventually led down the mountain.

The Saurian climate changed rapidly as they headed down, partially from the magic the area held. The terrain also quickly changed, he was now in a hilly area covered in trees and brush, Fox was just deeply relieved to be warm again. "Fox..I think we need to have that talk!" She called for him from way behind. "Just a minute..I really need to check this out now, this might be it." Fox searched through the brush finding nothing. "Where is it?" He asked aloud. "Found it!" Krystal alerted him before picking up the transmitter. "It's not even beeping..That's odd." Krystal said to him. She could feel his thoughts racing before he tensed up and she knew something was wrong. "It's probably nothing..We're not fighting any wars today." Krystal assured him pulling him to face her. "I just feel like something bad's just about to happen though.." Fox trailed off expecting there to be a huge explosion in the distance by now. "Hmm..Maybe it was just a weird error." Fox said assuring himself everything was okay.

"Let's just go back home..I need to talk to you anyway." Krystal pulled him by the hand trying to get back as soon as possible. "Why can't you just tell me here?" He asked her wanting to know why this matter was so private. "I'm afraid someone might be listening in." She explained while still fighting to get him to hurry up. "What? The whole system knows we're in love so what possibly could it be?" He asked not understanding why she was being so nervous to talk to him today. "It's something special..Just trust me." She told him before kissing his cheek. "Alright.. Krystal I think I need to tell you something too." He smiled at her shyly for the first time since they'd been married.

He was ready to retire and didn't know how she'd take it. He just wanted to settle down with Krystal and enjoy the rest of his life and not be stressed by missions and this drought provided a great opportunity. "I love you by the way." He said randomly remembering all their ordeals on Sauria. "Love you too..This place is so magical for us." She smiled at him taking his hand and heading towards their Arwings.

"Fox, how long are we going to be able to keep doing this?" She asked him making him stop in his tracks. "I'm not sure but I plan on settling down with you very soon." He turned back to see her smile. "We should have a house built here quickly." She suggested already knowing he planned on it. "You know we don't have to _hurry_ back." He grinned at her. "I think I know where we can have our chat." He told her making her grin back, turning off her wrist communicator so they were assured some privacy.

Suddenly an uneasy feeling came over the vulpine, something wasn't right today..The transmitters going haywire his memories were kicking in from when he had those "visions". He gripped his blaster and was ready for almost anything before he heard two loud blasts. "Fox!" Krystal screamed almost like she had been wounded but Fox already knew what had happened, he had been shot. He fell to the ground, time seemed to be slowing down for him. "Fox.." Krystal ran to his side obviously already crying. "Kr.." He muttered weakly reaching for her hand. "I-I-It'll be okay." She told him trying to hold back the tears that were already raining from her eyes. Fox wasn't sure who she was trying to comfort, him or her. "Why did I turn this off!" She yelled in frustration. "Krystal..Get..us..to.. cover" He said between each breath. Blood was coming out of the vulpine's mouth giving him the bitter taste "Now!" He told her sounding somewhat angered. Nothing could explain why whoever shot didn't shoot again.

Krystal was too busy yelling at her wrist communicator waiting for it to come on. "Krystal!" Fox said as loud as he could while he struggled to breathe, holding his chest to try and stop his bleeding. "Slippy hurry and get down here Fox is hurt really badly hurry hurry hurry!" She yelled frantically. Finally she turned her attention back onto him. "Krys.." Was all he could manage out. "Fox..I-I.." She didn't know what to tell him, obviously he knew she was panicking but also she didn't know what to do. She could tell he was getting weaker and was in excruciating pain by her telepathy but still didn't know how she could comfort him. "Just five minutes Fox..Just live please.. I need you." She told him pathetically. "Love you." He whispered to her. He had given up on getting her to move, she was going to stay with him until the end. "What did you want to tell me?" He barely managed to ask. She started sobbing on his shoulder after he asked, what could she possibly want to tell him. She couldn't stand to see him laying down obviously in agony but she had no idea what her presence did to help him.

"Tell me." He ordered even though his voice was almost inaudible. She couldn't stop crying, she hardly managed to breathe. "Fox..I'm..I'm." She stuttered knowing she had to tell him especially now. "I'm pregnant." She cried out before dropping her head onto him, wanting to be near him. _She's what? _Fox asked himself, completely dumbfounded. Then the reality struck and he couldn't keep from crying with her. He hardly was able to breathe in such shock, the agony of the bullets and now the emotional troubles of leaving a child in this world was killing him inside. Literally. "Fox please..Please.." She repeated begging him to stay with her. Fox didn't know it but he was already through half of the waiting, but he knew it wasn't over if the visions were correct.

The vulpine looked for his blaster but couldn't find it, he had lost it when he was hit. "Krystal you need to leave me.. I'm sure it was Panther who did this and that's why you aren't dead." Fox muttered as loud as he could knowing that this was all planned by someone who knew the star Fox team well. "I can't leave you though, Slippy's almost here." She assured him things would be okay when he was sure they wouldn't.

Krystal tried to take care of him like he had taken care of her many times before, all sort of emotions boiling up from within her. She embraced him, hugging him so tight she might have suffocated him. He returned her embrace by holding her for what he was sure would be the last time. "Fox don't die on me please.." She whimpered but his eyes were focused on a new person walking into the scene. "Krystal..Behind you." He groaned but he wasn't loud enough. A closer look showed this was not Panther but someone else entirely, Fox had never seen this man in his life. A tiger, about as tall as he was with a ghillie suit on for camouflage. "Krystal!" He yelled as loud as he could, she turned around but it was too late. His strong arms overtook her and he held a handgun to her head. "What do you want?" Krystal asked sobbing and shaking with fear. "Money..Somebody paid me to take this vulpine out so you can either die with him or I can take you back to the boss." Fox knew now that Panther had paid this hit-man to get revenge from when Krystal came back to him.

She wanted to die with Fox if anything but she knew that with a child she just couldn't she _had_ to survive. "Fine.." She choked up trying to look back at Fox but the mercenary's strength was too much for her to overpower. A daring idea raced to her as she got an arm free she reached for her blaster but found that it had already been taken care of by this trained killer, atleast she thought. She heard atleast five shots and the grip on her weakened almost instantly, she turned to see Fox with her blaster in his hand. His arm shook after taking the last shots of his life, he dropped the blaster and his arm fell to the ground limp. Krystal rushed to his side hoping she would still hear him breathing but she wasn't in time, her husband and the leader of Star Fox was now dead.

Slippy's medical ship landed nearby only to see Krystal slumped over a motionless body, the situation didn't need any description to the toad. "Krystal we can still save him help me out here." Slippy ordered her making her jump slightly, she had been so lost in her own world of despair that she hadn't heard his ship land. "He's dead.." She cried out. "I know but we have something we can use on him." He assured her Fox would be able to make it through if they hurried. "Help me get him on." Krystal said trying to pick the fallen vulpine up.

Fox heard the beeping of medical equipment nearby, his eyes barely cracked open. He tried to remember what had happened and why he was in the hospital wing he also wondered why he was paralyzed. "Fox?" He barely heard in what seemed to be like an echo effect. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn't make anything but a quiet groan for a response. "It's okay, you're going to be just fine." She whispered kissing the side of his muzzle. For some reason the pain wasn't as bad right now, deep inside he felt his feelings for Krystal overwhelming him. Thoughts started racing back into his mind, was she really? He asked himself not even able to ask her himself.

"Shh.." She whispered to his groans of pain, she was now playing his role normally she was the one to get injured. "Kry.." Fox struggled to say he didn't know why he wanted to speak so much but he wanted to tell her how he felt and to ask her if he remembered the day correctly. "Just calm down you'll be okay." She said grasping his paw "Sleep well." She whispered to him making his eyes go wide for a moment '_Sleep? I don't want to sleep I have que-' _Before he could finish the drugs he was under forced him into a dreamless sleep.

Fox's eyes flew open a short time later, the pain had disappeared from him and Krystal was asleep on the chair opposite of him in the small room. "Krystal?" He asked weakly finally able to communicate. "Huh?" She jumped back before smiling seeing that Fox was breathing still. She walked next to his side and knelt down so they were face to face. "What happened?" He asked her, she hardly even knew it all happened so fast. "Panther hired some hitman to kill you and take me back to him, you saved our lives." She smiled at him brushing a part of his hair away from his face part of him thinking she liked him being helpless in a way.

Fox gulped before asking the bigger question "Are you pregnant though?" He asked making her smile as wide as ever. "Yes." She giggled softly making him smile weakly. "I love you." He muttered overwhelmed with happiness at that moment despite his situation. "Fox..I don't know how to tell you this." She trailed off, happiness turning into sorrow. "You actually died back there." Even though it had already happened and Fox was safe she still couldn't help but cry. "It's okay I made sure I'd have a chance if that happened." He smirked slyly. "Tricky gave me a Bafomdad on our first visit to that crappy hut and those dreams bugged me to the point where I asked him for one." She smiled at him "I'm glad you did, what would this child and me be without you." She was smiling at him just like she did when they got married.

"Krystal, we're done..I can't do this anymore not with you pregnant and with me injured." Fox said before letting out a groan in pain when Krystal scraped by his wound accidentally. "Sorry, and yes I'm ready to start the next chapter in our lives." She said playing around with some of his headfur. "If I had known you were..I would've never let you go with me." He sighed unhappily. "I-I..Well it's a good thing I did." She stuttered. "It's fine Krystal. I'm not mad, i'm happy to be alive with you." He said breathlessly "Please remember to breathe too." She giggled slightly lessening the mood some.

Fox trailed off and couldn't understand what she said next, he was still in pain just the drugs were hiding it from him. "What was that?" He asked hoping she wouldn't be upset that he missed all of that. "I just asked what was it like?" She asked him he sighed before trying to get in a more comfortable position to tell her this. "Ow.." He groaned from the pain of moving, she helped him get into the position he wanted to to make it less painful.

"Well.." Fox didn't know where to start. "It was bright.. I saw our parents." He sighed knowing that would spark her interest. "You did?" She exclaimed happy that Fox now knew what they even looked like. "Yeah, you look like your mother." He commented bringing a smile from her. "I'm so happy you finally saw them though, did you speak with them?" She asked like a child. "I think..I don't remember really, maybe it'll take time for me to remember. They seemed happy though."

She smiled at him, speechless for the first time that night. "So when do we find out if it's a boy or girl?" Fox asked her changing the subject from death to the opposite. "That's going to be a couple weeks." She smiled at him just enjoying embracing him and hearing him breathe. "So what're we to do about Panther?" She asked him watching his eyes go from closed to as wide as they could. "Well, I'm giving the team to Falco and that's a good starter mission I think." He chuckled not knowing that Peppy was listening to them, the old man rushed up when he heard of what had happened to Fox. "Falco leader? I never thought I'd see the day." The hare grinned.

Fox jumped slightly with Krystal both surprised at his entrance. "Hey Peppy." Fox said weakly. "You're lucky Fox, not many people cheat death like that." Peppy said to him wisely as always. "Yeah but I'm meant to be here for a bit longer." He smiled slightly. "Yeah I heard you're expecting a child." Peppy smiled at them "Yeah." Krystal answered so Fox could rest, he already was closing his eyes but fighting it. Fox unwillingly fell asleep, forced by the drugs he was still under.

"Hey he's alive!" Falco said happily, the nicest he had sounded to the vulpine in months. "Yeah, thanks guys.." He said groggily seeing the whole team was together in the room when he opened his eyes. A look to the clock showed they had been there for a couple of hours while he was asleep. "Falco I need to talk to you in private though." He nodded at Krystal and then to the other two who were waiting for him to wake up. "Falco..I don't know really how to say this but.." Fox trailed off memories hitting him like a sledge. "Krystal's pregnant..And I'm retiring." He sighed, Falco hadn't known the news and honestly wasn't too shocked at it. "So..Fox, what's going to happen to Star Fox? We're still under contract." The avian asked bringing a weak smile to the fox, he didn't know how this should've been broken.

"Falco..I want you to lead this team now.. Rename it if you like I don't care." Fox told him, Falco looked at him in an awkward way. "You want..ME?" He asked He expected Fox to give it to Slippy in all honesty especially after giving him Best Man privileges over him. "Yes, you can hire someone new to replace Krys and me but we're not going to be here anymore." Fox told the avian bringing a smirk to his beak. "Alright, want me to get the rest in here again?" He asked Fox. "Yeah, thanks Falco." fox said weakly before closing his eyes again.

The vulpine didn't get much rest before being awakened by Slippy. "Gee, not even five minutes and Falco put him to sleep." The frog joked. "Haha.." Fox said sarcastically before opening his eyes to see Falco had left the room. "So Fox, you're done?" Slippy asked knowing the answer already. "Yes, I'm not making the mistakes my father made." Fox didn't look too eager to admit that fault of his father but had no other options. "Your father saved Lylat by risking his life, so have you." Krystal said encouragingly. "I know, I just.." Fox didn't know what to say and just trailed off. "Gonna be okay?" Krystal asked seeing through his attempts of hiding his pain. "I think I'll be fine just.." Fox wasn't able to finish before he fell to sleep. Krystal could read his thoughts, he was dreaming this time, dreaming of what they had to come in their life. "I'll leave you two alone, Fox needs the rest." Slippy said and was followed out by Peppy.

"Fox, Peppy told me he's going to get that house built on Sauria while you're recovering. Please hurry and get better." She whispered to him while he was asleep and somehow got a smile to appear on the vulpine's face. "Everything's going to be alright..I promise." She whispered almost inaudibly to the unconscious fox.


	71. LXXI Beginning A New Chapter

LXXI. Beginning A New Chapter

_"What makes a leader? A leader is the one in command.A leader is courageous. A leader is one who will do everything it takes to make sure his squad makes it out alive. A leader inspires his team to move on. A leader will put himself in danger to protect others. A leader is Fox McCloud._

_Thanks for your years of service."_

Fox put down the letter with a smile, it was from Peppy obviously but was also signed by his old squadmates. "More mail?" Krystal asked walking in as if on cue. "Yeah, from Slippy, Peppy and Falco." Fox smirked. "You doing better?" She asked him, it had been a month since officially retiring and the thought of flying his Arwing was eating at the back of his brain like an addiction. An addiction that ended when he saw Krystal's state, she was already showing signs of her pregnancy.

"Yeah I'm doing alot better thanks to your help." He smiled goofily and kissed the side of her muzzle. "Good, we're going to need all the energy we can have.." She giggled silently to herself. "Why's that? We aren't that old." Fox joked before the vixen sat beside him, leaning on his shoulder. "Nope but let's face it.. Our child is going to be half you and half me..We're in for it."

She giggled a little louder this time seeing the Fox look astonished that she'd think that. "We'll be able to do it just fine..Any news on the house?" "It'll be done next month..Getting supplies out there is pretty hard." She explained knowledge he already knew, still he could wait. They had bought out the old house he was raised in for a short time and they were enjoying every bit of it

"Fox, we're going to be missionless for the rest of our lives.." She muttered quietly moments later breaking their silence. "I know, it's so relaxing." Fox said weakly, Krystal was paying attention to the wounds he had received on Sauria a month ago today. "I hate that I broke such wonderful news in such a terrible spot..But I wanted it to be special, so I waited until we got to wherever you wanted to take us." She explained making him smile slightly. "Well it was special alright..I'm so glad I got shot instead of you." She smiled at his comment for once she could say she was glad he took the hit too.

"This is going to be the rest of our lives and I look forward to it..You're so angelic you know." He sighed being the romantic as usual. "You say it so much I should..I can't wait to go through this chapter of our lives..Together, always." And she was right, Fox would stay by her side as long as he could and make life as perfect for her as possible.

_-Author's Note: __THE FREAKIN END.. __It's finally over..Almost a year of my life I've been writing this fanfic and I've enjoyed all of it..even the times when I stared at a blank screen with my mind fried. I tried to make the ending dramatic and I have been checking it the past few days for any error.. What's next? ReAdventures officially won the poll obviously but I have contacted Hopeless Tyronos to cowrite it with me and he accepted that offer SO..I will be doing that and the runner up story about the same time..Expect another chapter sometime within the next few days starting up yet another Fic.. Thanks for reading this far even after what I beleive is a very rough start seeing as this was my first fanfic and I loved every single review I got throughout it and Private Message..You guys have helped me out more than words can express and I can't wait to write more although this has been my BIGGEST and will remain my BIGGEST project...Hopefully.. Thanks everybody so much for just about everything..oh I said that but I just can't seem to say it enough. Thanks for reading and I really hope you will read+Review my newer fics to get those started up as well.-_


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